Teach Me The Meaning Of Love
by EternityRoze262
Summary: Drew finally decides to confess his love for May, but doesn't know how to start. He goes to get help from Misty, who's supposedly a love expert but when Misty tells him how terrible he is at love, they go on a journey that teaches them more than just love.
1. Teach Me The Meaning Of Love

**Disclaimer: **Of course I don't own Pokemon

**A/N: **Some characters may be OOC at times but it's for the storyline

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

_**Teach Me The Meaning Of Love**_

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><p>"May, I've wanted to tell you for the longest time now… I love you. Will you please go out with me?" a teenage boy says nervously and bows down in respect.<p>

"Hmm... Not bad. Pretty good for a first attempt at a confession," replied a girl sitting with her legs crossed on a bright pink sofa. She had her attention on a teen magazine and didn't even bother to look at the boy.

Seeing as how she replied back so nonchalantly, the boy quickly straightened up. "Are you even paying attention to me? You're supposed to be helping me out with my confession, but how can you do that when all you're staring at is that magazine?"

The girl finally looked over at him with disgust. "I don't need to look at you to know that you suck terribly at confessions."

"W-what?"

"First off, don't bow when you're confessing; it makes you look desperate. And adding in the 'please' makes it sound even more desperate. Ugh… You speak in a nervous tone, which you shouldn't. Be more confident; this is the girl of your dreams you're confessing to. And don't blush so much. You don't want to look like a tomato in front of her."

Surprised by the girl's abrupt behavior, the boy quickly tried to think of a comeback. "Uh, but— she's my crush! It's just normal for me to get nervous!"

"Well, don't."

"I can't help it!"

The girl sighed, "Look, this isn't the famous Drew I always see on T.V. This is like a whole different person. _You're_ a whole different person; when it comes to May that is." She sat up and gave him a serious look. "Drew, you're always so confident when you're in a Pokemon Contest. You make a great, although cheesy, first impression to your fan girls, you've won so many contests all over the world, but you can't tell the one girl you love, how you feel?"

"But May is different. She's not like my fan girls. She actually fights me back and isn't afraid to her be herself, unlike my fan girls who are all just scream, scream and ask for my autograph," Drew replied back crossing his arms.

"I'm just saying if you want to confess to May, you're going to have to learn how."

"That's why I came to you, Misty! You're the famous model on magazines and everything! I've seen your advice columns before and all your tips on love! I thought if anyone would be able to teach me, it would be you!"

Misty kept silent, thinking about what Drew had just said. It was true that she was now a famous model. No one had ever expected it from her, but she was able to pull it off. Becoming a model didn't change her completely. There were times now and then when she acted like a tomboy, and she still enjoyed getting into little fights with her friends. The only differences were that she wore a lot more makeup, all of the newest fashions, and she was rich: extremely rich.

People who knew her from when she was a young girl would never believe how much had changed for her. Everyone knew Misty by her short orange hair, always put in a side ponytail. Now that she was a model, she decided to grow out her hair and experiment with that. As of the moment, her hair was just past her shoulders. Some days it was curled, others it was straight and some days it was her natural wave. Today was the day it was naturally wavy partially because of the fact that she was on a break from modeling. She had just finished modeling for this month's magazine issue and today was one of the few breaks she got as a model. During those breaks, she usually read her magazines they had just put together and especially loved to read her advice columns.

Everyone loved her advice, and many of her advice had come from what she learned from her previous travels with her best friends: Ash, Brock, Tracey, May and Max. However, she hadn't seen her friends in over three years, ever since her career as a model started up, and she started to miss them terribly.

Misty was so occupied by her thoughts that she forgot to reply back to Drew's statement. Drew, who became impatient with Misty's silence, playfully remarked, "Oh yeah, how _could_ you teach me about it? I don't know if you're really that experienced. I mean you haven't even confessed to _your_crush yet. You know that Ash Ketchum trainer."

At the sound of Ash's name being said, Misty fell out of her trance and lightly blushed. "H-hey! I've been too busy with my career to have time to confess! A-and plus, I never see him anymore either!"

Drew laughed at Misty's sudden embarrassment and flicked his hair. "Yeah, right. You're just scared to confess like I am."

"No I'm not! I just… don't want him to reject me, that's all…" Misty replied in a sad tone.

"Hmph. Well maybe if you were more confident with yourself, you wouldn't have to worry about rejection."

"Look who's talking! You're the one who's worried about rejection from May!"

"But I told you, May's different. She'll be harder to get." He chuckled softly, "…because if I had asked one of my fan girls out, she would have been the happiest girl in the world, intrigued by my good looks and stunning battle techniques."

Misty growled, "You're so weird! One moment you're all shy and nervous even though you're just _practicing_ your confession to May, and the next moment, you're back to being Drew again! All arrogant and flicking your precious green hair all over the place!"

"Haha…arrogant, arrogant, arrogant…" He sighed and sat on Misty's furry purple carpet, facing away from Misty. "That's all I'm ever described as… arrogant…"

Misty was surprised by his sudden emotion change. She got up from her sofa and stood behind Drew, worried.

"Drew?" she said in a quiet voice.

"I can't help it. It's who I am," he replied, although it sounded like he was talking more to himself than to Misty.

Misty didn't know what to say, but she did have something she wanted to ask him. "Why do you mess around with May so much?"

"I don't know… it's fun."

"Do you love her?" Misty asked in a whisper.

Drew slowly turned around to face Misty.

"Yes," he finally said.

Misty frowned and suddenly yelled, "Well then you fail!"

At that statement, Drew quickly got to his feet and shouted, "How did I fail? !"

"You don't know _anything_ about love!"

"What? !" Drew replied in shock.

"You're never gonna get May with that current attitude you have now! And even if you do, it'll never last for more than a week!"

"W-what did I do? !"

"Just give it up, Drew! You're too arrogant!" Misty yelled as she stormed away. Drew, who was just about sick from being called arrogant again, placed his hand on her shoulder, making Misty stop walking.

"Misty…" he started. Misty turned around with an angry face.

"What? !" She screamed back.

With a serious look, Drew asked, "Can you… teach me the meaning of love?"


	2. Packing

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Pokemon

**A/N:** There will be scenes of Contestshipping, Pokeshipping and Waterflowershipping in this fan fiction, just to warn you or something… hehe but… you never know what's going to happen ;) so I suggest that you just read it XD

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

_**Packing**_

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><p>"Grab a pen and notebook. We're going to set out on a journey," Misty stated as she packed all of her makeup into a bag.<p>

"A journey? Why?" asked Drew, who was standing at the door of her room.

"To teach you the meaning of love," she replied back.

"But why a journey? Can't we just stay here?"

"No, because you'll never learn if we just stay here. You need to explore the outside world and all the forms of love everywhere."

"Hmph. If you say so."

"_I'm_ your teacher, and _you're_ the one who asked for this, so we're doing it _my_ way!"

Drew snickered. "Maybe this journey will also teach you to control your anger issues."

Misty gave Drew an evil glare, but then went back to her packing.

"Should I pack too?" Drew asked.

"Just take along another pair of clothes and some stuff you'll need so you don't die on the journey," Misty responded.

"_You_ might end up dying on the journey if you're going to pack that much. There's no way you'll be able to carry all that, and _do not_ give it to me to carry when you're all tired."

Drew was right. Misty _was_packing a lot of stuff; so much stuff that it was spilling out of her backpack, and her backpack was huge. She tried to squeeze in about ten shirts, five pairs of jeans as well as skirts, dresses, her accessories and all of her makeup. And that was just half of what she was packing. Misty wondered how she would be able to fit everything else in.

"Aren't you overdoing it a bit? I mean, all you need is an extra pair of clothing and a couple things you need, just like what you told me to pack," Drew stated as he walked over to her.

"But I need all this stuff!" Misty shouted back.

"Did you carry all this when you were traveling with Ash?

"Uh… no but—"

"Then you won't need it for this small journey."

"I'll get it to work out! Just you watch!"

"Misty, you don't need to impress me by dressing up, so don't pack all this stuff," Drew teased.

"Haha," Misty remarked sarcastically. "I'm not doing it for you. I'm a model, Drew. I need to bring all these clothes with me. Everyone loves the clothes I model with, and it's what makes me beautiful."

"Yeah? Well, I'm a famous coordinator. I don't bring extra clothes with me, but girls still love me anyways. I guess this proves that I'm better looking than a model." Drew flashed a grin and Misty's mouth dropped. She couldn't believe what he had just said and was too shocked to say anything back at him. Drew just flicked his hair again and laughed at Misty's expression.

"DETENTION! GO TO THE GUEST ROOM DOWN THE HALL! NOW!" Misty shouted at the top of her lungs.

Drew only chuckled, "Yeah, I'll leave, but only because I'm going to get my things and pack. See ya teacher." He gave a little wave and left the room.

Misty was still huffing and in rage at what Drew said to her. He truly was an arrogant guy. She wondered how the journey would turn out with his company around. One thing she knew for sure: she was not going to enjoy his attitude.

Once she calmed herself down, she looked over at her backpack, overflowing with clothes. Then, she began to try to fit them all in again.

Drew had just finished packing all his stuff and went back to Misty's house… well mansion. He knocked on Misty's door, that was already open, to get her attention.

"Who let you back in here?" Misty rudely asked.

"Your maids. They were quite excited to see me," Drew replied back arrogantly.

"Done packing already?"

"Yep. How about you?"

"I'm still… working on it."

Drew walked over to Misty and held out a small backpack in front of her face. It was a light shade of pink with roses scattered all over it.

"What's this? Your backpack?" Misty teased, still angry about what happened before.

"It's yours. I bought it at a store along the way here. I was just picking up some stuff for me and decided to get you this."

"I have my own backpack."

"You're really going to carry that huge thing?" Drew asked and then pulled the small backpack away from Misty. "Ok then, your choice." He went to sit on Misty's bed, which was actually very comfortable. After trying many different ways of sitting on the bed, he eventually ended up lying on it.

"You think you have the right to do whatever you want at a famous person's home? !" Misty yelled.

"Are you forgetting? I'm famous too. So yeah, it's all fine to me. And why do you keep yelling at me?"

"Because you're so full of yourself. Geez… is this how you act around May?"

"Maybe." Drew said with a smirk.

"Ugh! I don't know how she can deal with you around. Hey! Stop making yourself comfortable and help me pack!"

"Help_you _pack?"

"Yes, help _me_. Come on!"

"Alright, alright. Stop yelling already," he said as he got off her bed and went to sit by Misty on the floor.

Misty slightly gasped at his presence. She had never seen him so close before and it surprised her that he was… pretty good looking. Drew saw Misty staring at him and smiled, making Misty snap out of her trance.

"Surprised by my looks, aren't you…?" Drew said in a low seductive voice.

"What? ! No!" Misty blushed. "Help me pack!" she said as she grabbed hold of the closest shirt to her.

"Seriously now, stop yelling. I can hear you just fine."

"Keep telling me that and I'll be even louder grasshead!"

Drew gave a little laugh. "Giving me nicknames already? Aww, how sweet of you," he teased.

Misty rolled her eyes and stuffed her shirt she was holding into the huge backpack in front of her. As she was stuffing in more clothes, Drew suddenly spoke out, "You're really taking all this with you?"

"Drew, for the hundredth time, ye—"Misty stopped in mid-sentence as she noticed that Drew had on a serious face and not a joking on. Drew then stood up and made his way into her closet.

"Hey! You can't just barge into a girl's wardrobe!" Misty yelled and ran after him.

Her closet was huge, in the shape of a hemisphere. When you first stepped in, there was a big open area for trying on clothes. Then there were doors that surrounded the walls; each door leading to a different kind of clothing, and in the center of her closet was a large mirror. Drew looked around and randomly picked a door, which happened to be the first door to his left.

"Drew, stop!" Misty started, but it was too late. Drew opened the door to find it full of all Misty's shirts. Shocked, but amazed, he stepped through the door and began to look around. Misty ran to the door.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing? ! Get out of here!"

Drew turned around to face Misty. "Damn Misty, you have so many shirts! And why are most of them so revealing?"

Misty blushed at the statement and furiously ran up to him.

"You can't be looking at that stuff! Now get out!"

"Misty, I'm 18. So technically, I'm an adult."

"Yeah? Well, I'm 19. So I'm older. So when I say 'get out' you should GET OUT! !"

Drew picked up a pink laced tank top. "Hey, put this on for me, will ya?" he joked.

Misty turned beat red as she snatched her tank top from his hands.

"Gimmie that!" she shouted.

"Ok, ok. I didn't know you were that eager to put it on for me," Drew said as he sat down on a chair that was in the room. He crossed his legs and arms as he continued to smirk at Misty.

"Stop it Drew! You're so annoying!"

Misty was about to grab Drew to push him out, but Drew got out of the chair and moved before she could. He spotted a shirt hanging on a rack and quickly grabbed it. Then he went to the door of the next room, since all of the rooms are connected, and turned his head around to look at Misty.

"I didn't know you modeled with this type of clothing on."

"I don't!"

"Oh. What a shame. You have so many, yet no one gets to see them."

"You're a perverted man!"

"I wonder what May's closet is like…"

"Ha! I doubt it's better than mine." Then Misty remembered that she needed to get Drew out of her closet. "Hey! You need to get out now!"

Drew had moved on the next area, and was looking through the rack of pants. Misty ran up to him and slapped him.

"Stop! Who gave you permission to come in my closet? !" she screamed.

"You did."

"When? !"

"When you asked me to help you pack."

Before Misty could reply back, Drew took a pair of shorts out from the rack and showed it to Misty. Then he held out the shirt he took from before.

"Here," he said.

"What?" Misty asked in confusion.

"Put it on."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Misty took the outfit from Drew and examined it as Drew leaned against the wall.

"I need some privacy here," she stated.

"I won't look," Drew assured.

"Drew! !"

"I'm going, I'm going." He started to walk out of the closet, but then stopped at the door. "Come out when you're done."

Misty stared at the outfit he picked out for her. It was a very cute outfit. Misty had never worn it before. She had so many clothes that many of them were never worn. She sighed and put on the outfit. When she finished changing, she looked at herself in the mirror and posed around to admire her beauty.

The outfit consisted of a loose shirt with sleeves that went up to her elbows. The shirt was a pretty shade of pink: light rose. And it showed off her shoulders, but not so much that it could slip off easily. Then there was a dark, but beautiful shade of blue jean shorts.

She liked it, and was surprised that Drew had really picked this out for her. Then, seeing as how her neck looked a little bare, she walked over to her jewelry set where her many necklaces hung. She picked up a silver necklace with tiny chains and a heart with diamonds embroidering it. Then she put it on her and smiled.

All of a sudden, she wondered how she would face Drew. He had chosen the outfit for her and she suddenly felt embarrassed to go out and show Drew, but she knew she had to come out somehow.

She cautiously tip-toed to the main door of her closet and peeked out to search for Drew. Drew was nowhere to be seen. Wait, then where was he? Without thinking, Misty stepped out and began to look around for Drew. She was still being cautious in case Drew was still around her room. Slowly, she sneaked to her bedroom door to check if Drew was in the hallway.

"Why are you sneaking around like that?" a sudden voice came from behind her.

Misty jumped, startled by the voice, and turned around to find Drew standing in front of her with his hands in his pockets. She gave a little scream.

"Where did _you_ come from? !"

"What do you mean? I was in your room the whole time," he replied.

"Where? I was looking all over for you!"

"Behind the bed. So, you were looking all over for me, were you? Missed me already?"

Misty blushed at the sudden thought." No! I was just wondering where you were!"

Drew flicked his hair and laughed.

"Stop that! Your Drew-ness gets spread around my room every time you flick your hair!" Misty complained.

"The more reason to do it," Drew replied back and flicked his hair once again.

Misty growled at him in annoyance.

"Smile," he said.

"Huh?" Misty asked in confusion.

"That outfit looks cute on you, but not when you're angry. So smile."

Misty didn't know whether to smile or to stay mad at him, so she stood with a blank expression.

Drew sighed, "Come on, smile." He started walking toward her, his hands reaching for her. Misty flinched and backed away, blushing. This only made Drew smirk. He put his arms down by his side.

"Ok, being shy works too," he said.

Misty finally snapped out of her shyness.

"Stop playing around with me!"

"Hm?"

"Why do you treat me like this?"

"Like what?"

"Like this."

"This?"

"Drew!"

Drew laughed and then kept quiet. Why_did_ he treat her like that? Maybe because she was just fun to mess around with too and that was who he was after all: an arrogant guy who loved to joke around with people.

"Or… is it that you just treat everyone like that?" Misty added. It was strange; for some reason she kind of hoped that somehow he treated and viewed her different from everyone else. Well, except for May of course. She awaited his answer and started to become irritated when Drew didn't answer her simple question.

Drew finally looked back at Misty and smiled innocently.

"Yep," he replied.

Misty snapped and became mad at Drew again. "What's wrong with you? ! You're so—"

"Misty…" Drew started in a kind voice.

"Huh?" Misty suddenly felt her answer towards Drew melt away as Drew's warm, soft voice whispered her name.

"You're not bad. I like being around you," he said as he walked toward the door. Misty watched him, her face blank, frozen, like she didn't know what to feel. Drew saying that all of a sudden made her feel kind of… happy. But then again, he did just make fun of her the entire time he was at her house. Misty was confused; Drew was such a hard guy to understand.

"Well now, why don't you pick out another outfit and we'll be on our way?" Drew spoke, breaking the silence.

Misty finally blinked, "What? But I—"

"You can't bring all that on this journey, Misty. I already picked out your outfit for the road, so why don't you pick out an extra pair of clothing and grab your stuff."

_Drew is finally being serious_, Misty thought. And he was right too. There was no way she could bring all that.

Quickly, Misty grabbed another outfit and put it in the small backpack Drew had bought for her. Then she went to her makeup bag and took out the ones she wanted to bring. Drew gave her a confused look.

"What? I have to bring _some_ makeup," Misty insisted.

After Misty finished packing, she slipped on the backpack and gave a final check on the room for anything she was missing.

"So, teacher, are we good to go?"

Misty looked over at Drew who was standing by her door.

"Yeah," she said and they both walked out of her room.


	3. My Secret Place: Introductions

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Pokémon!

**A/N: **Just wanted to let you all know that this story will be going toward Waterflowershipping (as well as Contestshipping, don't worry). Ok, so really, have you ever read a Waterflowershipping fanfic before? Because I've only found about two, and I honestly think Drew and Misty would be cute together. But for those of you who feel offended by this shipping, you don't have to read it. Hey, it's a new idea. I don't see anyone else writing fanfics about Contestshipping _and_ Waterflowershipping. Everything is just full of surprises, so do you want to know what's going to happen next? Then keep reading!

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

_**My Secret Place: Introductions**_

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><p>"Where are we going?" Drew asked when they finally set off. The two teenagers walked side by side down the wide road that led in and out of Cerulean City.<p>

"Pewter City," Misty replied and glanced around in wonder at her new surroundings. Since the beginning of her modeling career, she had always been confined in the city, leaving her little to no access of the world outside. Being able to breathe in the fresh air of the forest brought a huge smile to her face, and for a moment, she forgot that she was travelling with Drew.

"Pewter City? Why?" Drew inquired. The sound of his voice brought Misty back to her conscious and she turned to face him.

"To visit Brock," she answered bluntly.

Drew made a disgusted face. "That desperate guy?"

"Yes that desperate guy." Misty gave a sigh. Brock was one of those guys whose motto for life was "love at first sight". He truly was, as Drew mentioned, desperate to get a girlfriend. It didn't change the fact that they were best friends though. In fact, Brock was a very smart and caring person. Of course, that very smart and caring person immediately changed into a lovesick Pokémon whenever he came in sight with a beautiful girl.

She knew Brock was just about as hopeless as Ash was when it came to love, although Brock knew a lot more about love than Ash did. The only problem with Brock was that he was a bit too straightforward; in other words, his sudden desperate attitude made a bad first impression on girls.

"You're going to learn from how he acts," Misty added as they continued to walk deeper into the forest.

"Great…" Drew remarked sarcastically.

"You _should_ be grateful. It's not easy teaching someone about the meaning of love."

Drew flicked his hair and started to walk ahead of Misty. He never really liked travelling with people; he felt they would only slow him down or get on his nerves, which was why he preferred to travel alone.

Misty didn't let Drew's attitude bother her for the moment. She was so fascinated by all the wild Pokémon in the huge forest that her smile grew wider with each passing second. Oh, how she missed travelling the world with Ash and Brock: being able to meet all sorts of people and their Pokémon, having to walk for days on end just to arrive at the next city for a gym battle, and of course, arguing with Ash about the most meaningless things in life. She remembered them all so clearly, and was so caught up reminiscence that she didn't hear when Drew called for her.

"Hello? Teacher?"

"Huh?" Misty blinked, trying to refocus her mind to the current situation.

"Good. You're still alive," Drew stated, his voice didn't seem the least bit concerned. He turned to face forward and continued to walk along the winding road that lay out in front of them.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, Misty finally realized that Drew was going at such a fast pace that she was beginning to have difficulties keeping up with him. She looked over at Drew, who appeared to be about ten feet in front of her, and quickly ran to catch up with him.

"Why are you going so fast? There's no rush," she said as she forced herself to walk faster.

"This isn't fast; it's my normal speed. You're the one going too slow." He gave a little chuckle and looked to the side. "It's no wonder May and her friends are always so far behind; they go at such a slow pace and waste so much time out on the road."

Misty was surprised by Drew's words, and stared at him in wonder. She had never come across such a rude and confusing person before.

"You shouldn't say that about the girl you like," Misty stated, diverting her eyes back on the road in front of them. Drew gave her a confused look. He was only teasing May; it wasn't like he was trying to hurt anyone's feelings.

"Even if you're just joking around," Misty continued, "she doesn't know that, so she'll take it in as how she hears it: an insult."

"I've teased her plenty of times before. She knows I'm just playing around with her," Drew countered.

"You never know."

Drew grew silent after that. If Misty was like other girls, she would've probably kept arguing until she made the final statement, and Drew didn't want to waste his breath arguing with her now. They had only just started their journey together, so there was bound to be more arguments as their journey continued: might as well save the arguments for later.

"So when are you going to start teaching me?" Drew asked.

"Soon," Misty answered, "I have to figure out how to teach it first. So give me a little time to think about it."

"Alright, just don't mess it up for me."

"Shut up! I won't do that to you!"

"Hmph." Drew flicked his chartreuse hair again and they both kept quiet as they walked down the long dirt road.

Misty thought about starting up another conversation, but quickly thought against it when she caught a glimpse of Drew's face. It looked like he was thinking very deeply about something… or some_one_. The playful, teasing look he had on just a minute ago had been completely wiped out of his face, and was replaced by a more pensive look. Misty wondered what he was thinking about, but then remembered that she had other important things to think about, such as how she was going to teach him the meaning of love. Was that even possible to do? She frowned and shook her head. Why had she even agreed to teach him in the first place?

After hours of analyzing the details of love, Misty let out a big sigh and finally decided to stop thinking about it. Instead of finding the answers to her own questions, she found herself even more confused than ever. For starters, what _was_ the meaning of love? There wasn't really a direct answer to it since everyone had their own interpretations to the word "love".

Perhaps Drew simply wanted to know how to ask a girl out. Misty could handle that much. But if that was what he was looking for, he wouldn't have agreed to go on the journey with her around Kanto. No, he obviously wanted to know more about love than just asking out a girl.

Misty glanced over at Drew, who was slightly in front of her. Despite his arrogant behavior, she knew that he really did have feelings for that girl: the way he acted whenever her name was brought up, the way he was determined to learn about love just for her. He truly wanted to be with her. Misty looked away and felt herself calm once again. She knew what she had to do now; she was going to teach Drew the meaning of love, no matter what complications came across.

"I just realized something," Drew said suddenly, his voice caught Misty's attention.

"What is it?" she asked, hoping it wasn't anything serious.

"We're going to Pewter City, right?"

"Right."

"And we're on Route 4 now, right?"

"Uh-huh…" Misty agreed, trying to figure out where this topic was leading to.

"So the only way to get to Pewter City… is through Mount Moon," Drew stated and turned his head to look at Misty. She stared blankly ahead, taking in Drew's words, and then gave a little scream.

"You're right! No!" she whined, "I don't want to go through Mount Moon. That place is torture!"

"Torture?" Drew repeated with a smirk. "Why do you say that?"

"Because it's dark, and has lots of tunnels, and I don't want to end up getting lost in there!" Misty complained.

"You won't get lost. You have me," Drew said haughtily and then flick his hair once again.

"That's what worries me even more!"

Drew stopped abruptly and turned around to face Misty, who had come to a stop as well. "Look, I'm not like Ash, alright? I actually know my way around things and won't make stupid mistakes like getting us lost in that cave."

Misty's mouth dropped slightly in shock. She hadn't expected Drew to insult Ash like that, and was tempted to whack Drew with her mallet. Drew suddenly smirked again and relaxed his shoulders. "Don't take it the wrong way. I just don't want you confusing me as Ash."

"I would never _ever_ confuse you as Ash!" Misty said firmly.

"Good." Drew turned to the front again and continued down the road, leaving Misty speechless. She opened her mouth to shout something back at him, but immediately shut it because she couldn't think of anything to shout. There was no use arguing with Drew now; he had already ended it, so all she could do was keep moving.

Misty stayed close behind Drew, but made sure to herself that she wouldn't try talking to him again. It seemed like every time they had a conversation, it would always end up as a huge argument, and Misty wasn't in the mood to argue anymore. She made a pouting face as she walked through the forest with her arms crossed. It irritated her that Drew could actually be so egoistic. If he really wanted to go out with May, that attitude of his would definitely have to change. And she would see to it that it did.

After a while, the forest surroundings started to look the same. There wasn't much to keep Misty entertained anymore, and she became incredibly bored. Since there was nothing else to do, she decided to try to have a somewhat normal conversation with Drew. After all, they were going to be travelling together for quite a while, so it would be convenient to learn more about each other. However, Misty didn't exactly start out in a friendly manner seeing as Drew wasn't exactly too friendly himself.

"I don't know how you can travel by yourself. It seems like it would get so lonesome," she stated.

"You get use to it," Drew replied casually.

Misty it her lower lip as she stared at him. He wasn't making it easy to hold a conversation; what could she say to that?

"Do you like travelling by yourself?" she finally asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

"You could say that."

"You don't talk much, do you?" Misty said getting annoyed that Drew kept responding to her in short, direct sentences. She didn't give Drew any time to say anything, and immediately continued on. "I mean, when you do talk, it's all just teasing and boasting. What's with that?"

Drew just shrugged, not bothering to look back at Misty.

"If you want May as your girlfriend, you're going to have to learn how to talk to her. You two can't always just be bickering about nonsense," she added.

"Psh." Drew stuck his hands in his pockets. He never really liked being told what to do. But then again, he was the one who asked Misty to help him out, so he probably should've listened to her advice.

As Drew walked on, he considered starting up a conversation with Misty to practice talking without any teasing remarks, but he felt nervous about it and just ended up keeping silent. He wasn't really the type of person who did something the minute someone told him to do it, but the silence was making him feel awkward. Suddenly, the thought of May came into his mind, and he knew that if he wanted to be with May, he would have to listen to Misty. He took a deep breath, trying not to think of anything else, and let the words come out of his mouth.

"So is there anything you want to teach me now?"

"Perhaps," Misty started slowly.

Her reply caught his attention and he finally looked back at her. "Hm? You don't want to teach me right now?"

"No, it's not that. It's just that… we're not there yet," Misty responded.

"Not… there yet?" Drew repeated in confusion. "But it takes two days get to Pewter City. Are you—"

"Not to Pewter," Misty interrupted as she looked around the forest. Drew wondered why she was looking around; there wasn't anything fascinating to see in the forest.

Misty continued to search the area. She knew the place was around somewhere and wanted to keep an eye out for it so they wouldn't pass it. Finally, she spotted a single rose petal by the side of the road and her eyes lit up.

"There it is!" she shouted in excitement and ran over to the fallen rose petal.

"Where?" Drew asked running to catch up with Misty. She carefully picked up the petal and examined it in awe. The petal was starting to fade from its natural shade of red, but Misty gazed at it as if it were the most beautiful thing in the whole world.

"It's here!" she exclaimed, and then handed the petal over to Drew who stared at it in confusion. It was just a rose petal; he carried dozens of roses with him, all which looked at least ten times more beautiful than that single dying rose petal.

"What's here?" he asked again, but when he looked up, Misty had already run off into the condensed trees. "H-hey! Wait up!" Drew called out and ran after her. He never imagined Misty to run so fast; when they were walking before, she was always a great distance behind him, but now she was running so fast that Drew was having a hard time trying to keep up with her. There were two or three times when Drew thought he had lost her, but her bright orange hair was very noticeable in the green forest, and he always managed to find her again. Finally, there came a huge clearing, and Drew saw that Misty had stopped running. He ran up beside her, and placed his hands above his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"Next time, wait for me," Drew said in between deep breaths, but Misty didn't respond back to him. "Misty?" he said, wondering why Misty wasn't answering him. When he turned to her, he could see a huge smile on her face as her hands clasped together tightly. Her eyes were focused on whatever it was in front of them, and when he finally turned to see what it was, he understood why she was speechless.

The area in front of them looked like a fairy tale landscape. As far as Drew could tell, they were standing on top of a humongous hill. Further along the hill were steep stairs made out of stone, which led straight to the bottom. There, on the bottom, Drew could see a large perfect square that served as a sort of flooring and was also made out of stone. Then, all around that was a field of roses. It truly was a wondrous sight.

The roses were of all sorts of colors: from the original red color to a rare yet beautiful shade of blue. They weren't like wild flowers that grew out of control. Those roses bloomed in a delicate manner, enriching the large open field with their beauty. And with the sunlight beaming down on the field, the roses appeared to glisten, giving the entire place a magical feel to it. Drew was astounded with the beautiful scenery, and couldn't take his eyes off of it for a second. It was the sound of Misty's voice that finally brought him back to reality.

"Come on!" she shouted with joy and then ran toward the stairs leading to the field of roses. Drew quickly followed her, not taking his eyes off of the sight in front of him. The two reached the bottom and headed for the middle of the square area.

"What is this place?" Drew finally managed to get out.

"Do you like it?" Misty asked.

"It's beautiful," he answered, still admiring the place.

Misty smiled and looked off into the distance. "I found this place by accident when I was a little girl. I was lost in these woods, and so, not knowing what to do, I just kept walking around, and eventually came across this place. I don't come here often, but when I do, it's always such a surprise to me. It's like I'm engulfed by the beauty of this place."

"I know what you mean," Drew said half dazed.

Misty closed her eyes, wrapped her fingers together, and inhaled the fresh, clean air. The air had such a sweet scent to it from all the roses that surrounded her.

"Why did you bring me here?" Drew asked. He knew this place meant a lot to her, and wondered why she would bring him, out of all people, to this special place.

"I thought it would be the perfect place to start," Misty said happily. She opened her eyes to look at Drew, who was staring blankly at her.

Drew relaxed and decided to cooperate with her for the time being. Although his facial expression didn't show it, he was delighted to be there. "Where do we start?" he inquired.

"At the beginning," Misty answered, taking a seat on the stone floor. "Take a seat."

Drew hesitated before sitting across from Misty. They faced each other with a serious look.

"Ok, I need to know more about you and your love life. So just answer my questions truthfully," said Misty. Drew nodded his head, making Misty feel a bit shy since she was so use to his arrogance.

"Right! So! Who is this person you like?" she asked, trying to lighten up the mood.

"You know who I like," Drew replied in a quiet voice, diverting his eyes away from Misty's.

"But I want you to say her name."

There was a moment of silence as Drew tried to build enough courage to say the name of the girl he liked. He didn't know why it was so hard to say it now; he was fine with saying it any other time. It was only when they were talking about her seriously that he had troubles with it.

"M-May. I like May," Drew finally announced.

"How long have you liked her?" Misty inquired.

"I guess it was a little after I met her: back when I was ten."

"How did you start to like her?"

Drew thought about it for a moment, and then replied, "We saw each other a lot at contests, and… yeah."

"Why do you like her?"

"I don't know," Drew sighed. "She can be a crybaby, and over-confident, short tempered, she's constantly shouting, and is easily deceived by people but… for some reason I just can't get her out of my mind. I'm always worried for her."

"So you don't really know why you like her," Misty stated. "It's ok. There's not always a reason for everything, but it's also good to know why you like her so that way you know you're not wasting your time on her."

Drew kept silent, taking in Misty's words and trying to figure out why he really liked May. Misty leaned forward, moving on with the next question. "When you're with May, how do you feel? Does your heart beat faster? Do you become shy?"

"Sometimes my heart beats faster." Drew paused for a second. "It depends on the moment. And I don't really get shy around her."

"Because you want to impress her," Misty stated suddenly, making Drew flinch. He looked down in embarrassment. "That's why you tease her and flick your hair all the time: to prove that _you_ were right and that _you_ won the argument," Misty continued, hoping that what she said was pertaining correctly to Drew.

To her surprise, Drew was lightly blushing as he answered, "Something like that…" Misty knew that he had more to say, so she kept quiet and waited for him to continue on.

"Actually, when I first started teasing her, it was for my own enjoyment. She acted a lot like me when I first started coordinating: so nervous and unsure of everything. That made it fun to tease her. But as I continued seeing her along my travels, we became closer and I started having feelings for her."

Misty giggled. "So cute. But I bet May gets real mad when you tease her, doesn't she?"

Drew nodded his head, still looking at the ground. He knew he would only blush deeper if he looked directly at Misty.

"Like I said before, you shouldn't tease her all the time. So you're going to have to learn to control it," she continued.

Drew looked up involuntarily. "But—"he started.

"It's ok to tease people from time to time, but there may come a day when something you said as a joke will hurt another person's feelings. You can't just apologize then and expect everything to be normal again. How you treat people affects how they're going to live their life." She paused to take a breath. "And also… I think that when you tease May, you hide your feelings for her as well. She has no idea that you like her, does she?"

"I don't think so," Drew answered.

"That's something to work on. However, if you change your personality just like that," Misty started as she snapped her fingers, "she'll know that you're up to something. So I would suggest just gradually getting to the point where you start showing more affection towards her."

"Ok," Drew responded.

"By the way, did you bring your pen and notebook like I told you to?" Misty asked suddenly.

"Yes."

"Good, then take it out."

Drew looked at Misty more intently. "Now?" he asked.

"Yes now."

Drew sighed, but took off his own small backpack so he could grab his pen and notebook. "Do I have to take notes?" he whined.

"Yes. Write down anything you think will be helpful, and always write down the things I tell you write. So in this case, jot down the stuff we just talked about," Misty explained.

"Um… writing's not exactly my style so…" Drew started.

"I don't care if it's not your style. You _will_ write, ok?"

"Fine. _Teacher_," Drew sneered as he opened his notebook to the first page. Misty felt her body stiffen at the word "teacher" and placed her hands on her hips.

"You don't have to call me that," she stated.

"But you're my teacher," Drew insisted.

"So? You can still call me by my name."

Drew pretended to think about it, and then replied, "No. Teacher sounds better than Misty."

Misty glared at him in anger and crossed her arms. She really didn't understand him. One moment he was all shy and innocent, and the next, he was back to his normal self again. Perhaps it was just because of May.

She watched Drew as he wrote along the lined paper in his notebook. His handwriting was very neat for someone who didn't like to write, and he took his time with writing down what they had just discussed. Misty felt like they had made progress, so they had done pretty good for the first day.

As Drew was writing, Misty turned her attention to the sky. The sun was just beginning to set, and she noticed that darker colors were starting to fill up the sky. She and Drew were going to have to set up camp soon. Misty closed her eyes once again, taking in the gentle breeze and allowing herself to relax. Her state of calmness didn't last long though, for she heard a loud noise from Drew shutting his notebook annoyingly, which made her whole body jump in surprise. She quickly opened her eyes to see Drew smirking, and pouted.

"Thanks for ruining my moment of relaxation."

"You're very welcome," Drew teased.

"Well, it's getting late now, so we better eat dinner and get ready for bed," Misty said as she got to her feet.

"Sounds good. Where are we staying for the night?" Drew asked as he stood up.

Misty grinned. "Follow me."

They followed a pathway through the roses until they reached a giant cherry blossom tree. Its blossoms were all in bloom, with its soft pink color giving out a serene aura. Misty and Drew walked up the base of the tree and look up at the branches which held the little flowers. As a light breeze came, some of the flowers fell off, falling slowly to the ground like snow.

"This is amazing. I can't believe you found such a place," Drew remarked.

Misty gave a little laugh. "I know. I just love this tree. And it seems like every time I come here, the flowers are always in bloom!" She looked over at Drew. "We can sleep here under the tree for the night."

Drew smiled back, a friendly smile this time: not a smirk or a grin, but an actual smile. "Ok. I'll go start a fire."

"No!" Misty shouted, a lot louder than she wanted to. Drew gave her a confused look.

"I-I'm sorry," she said in a softer voice. "It's just that this place means a lot to me, and I don't want to destroy its natural beauty."

"I understand," Drew replied back. "This place _is_ too beautiful to be ruined."

"Thanks for understanding," Misty said with a smile. "And you don't have to worry about it getting cold. It's usually always warm here, even at night. So we'll be ok."

"Alright then." Drew took a seat on the grass covered with cherry blossom petals and pulled out some food from his backpack. He had three rice balls in a plastic bag. Misty stared at Drew's food and suddenly realized how hungry she was. She sat down and opened up her backpack only to find that she hadn't packed any food with her! She slowly looked up to Drew, who had already started eating his first rice ball, and wondered how she should act. She felt so ashamed that she actually forgot to pack food with her. On her previous travels with Ash and Brock, Brock was always the one who cooked for them, so she didn't need to worry about it then. And she was so use to her food being made for her by her maids that the idea of packing food just slipped her mind.

"Don't tell me you forgot to bring food with you," Drew remarked with a smirk.

Misty groaned in embarrassment and hid her face in her arms as she tucked in her knees. She didn't want to hear any more of Drew's mean remarks which always made her feel so bad about herself. It looked like she wouldn't be eating tonight, assuming that Drew probably didn't even have enough food for himself. Then, she wondered how Drew's facial expression was at the moment. He was probably smirking at her stupidity.

After a few minutes, Misty couldn't take it anymore. Hiding her face from Drew was getting boring, and she needed to breathe in fresh air again. She braced herself for whatever Drew's next words would be, and lifted her head up again. What she saw in front of her, surprised her, and she had to blink a couple times to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Drew was holding out a rice ball for her, although it seemed like he didn't really want to give it to her because he was still eating his and looking off into the distance.

"Is that… for me?" Misty asked as she stared at the rice ball hungrily.

"No, I'm just holding this out for fun," Drew playfully remarked. "Of course it's for you. I won't let you starve."

Misty eyed the rice ball and then Drew, to make sure he wasn't joking around. Then, she carefully took the rice ball into her hands and took a bite. She chewed slowly, still feeling ashamed that she forgot to pack her own food and was now sharing Drew's.

After finishing up her rice ball, she sat quietly trying to figure out what to do next. She was still a bit hungry, but there was only one rice ball left, and she didn't want to feel greedy.

Drew took out the last rice ball and turned to Misty. "Do you want it?"

Misty bit her lip. Although she really did want it, she didn't want to be disrespectful. "No. I'm good," she said quickly.

"Are you sure? I know girls love to eat. May eats so much, I can't believe she's still skinny," Drew grinned.

"I said I'm good, ok? !" Misty yelled and then turned her head away from Drew.

"If you say so." Drew brought the rice ball to his mouth and started eating it.

Misty stood up and stretched her arms. "I'm going to go look around until it gets dark. You can do whatever you want until then."

"Alright. Just don't get lost."

"We'll see who gets lost around here!" Misty shouted and then stormed off. Drew gave a little chuckle as he watched her go back into the field of roses. She was very different from other girls he had met, even May, and he enjoyed seeing her get angry at him. Girls were so fun to tease. They got mad so easily, which Drew found to be amusing because they took things so literally. He gave let out a laugh and finished his last rice ball before exploring the area as well.

Night came by quickly, and Drew and Misty were both under the giant cherry blossom tree once again. They lay side by side, gazing up into the night sky, thinking about their first day on the journey. It certainly was an experience for the both of them.

"We made good progress today. If we keep this up, we should reach Pewter City by tomorrow afternoon," Misty said cheerfully. Her walk around the rose garden had put her in a good mood again.

"Well, that should be interesting," Drew replied.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because it's true. Also, I'm curious to see how you're going to teach me with Brock's help."

"I think it'll work out fine," Misty stated confidently.

"We'll just see about that," Drew responded and then shut his eyes. "Well, I'm going to sleep."

"Alright, goodnight."

Drew didn't reply back, which irritated Misty, but she tried not to let it bother her too much. They were both extremely tired, and just needed to sleep. Tomorrow would be a new day, with a new lesson to learn.


	4. A First Attempt at Teaching

**Disclaimer:** This is getting to be a real bother, and since everyone obviously knows that I do not own Pokémon, this will be the last time I'm going to state it.

**A/N:** For those of you who would like to know what the other Waterflowershipping fanfics I've found are, they will be listed on my profile with links to the story. Enjoy the next chapter!

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

_**A First Attempt at Teaching**_

"Take it from me. It's a lot easier to like someone who likes you than to like someone who doesn't." ~ Misty Waterflower

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><p>Drew and Misty woke up early the next morning. The sun had already started to rise, and the two decided that it would be best to head out early so they could reach Pewter City by evening. Drew suggested setting off right away, but Misty, being the famous model she was, strictly declared that they would set off again <em>after<em> getting ready for the day, which, for her, meant getting washed up, putting make-up on, and brushing her hair. As irritated as Drew was with Misty's narcissism, he knew he had to listen to her because one, she was older than him, and two, she was his teacher. With Misty's final decision made, Drew had no choice but to wait for Misty to finish getting ready for the day. Sure, his looks meant a lot to him as well, but he wasn't as obsessed with it as much as Misty was. With a sigh, he followed Misty as she happily skipped off to some place in the distance.

After a few minutes, they found themselves standing in front of a small lake. Although it was small enough to see to the other side, the image of it was enough to remember for a lifetime. The water was crystal clear; it seemed so pure, almost as if it had always been untouched since the beginning of its existence. Only a neat and orderly layer of rocks covered the bottom of the lake, and when looked upon, one could see each and every rock that was beneath the water.

As Misty and Drew neared the edge of the lake, Drew began to look around in amazement. It seemed to him that there were beautiful sceneries with every new place Misty took him. He was almost glad that she had decided to get ready for the day. There was no denying it; he definitely loved the view of the lake, and for a moment, even wished that they didn't have to leave the place.

Drew watched as Misty knelt down beside the lake and splashed her face with the clean water. He bit his lip at the sight. It was a pity that the lake was used for washing and drinking; it looked too enchanting to be touched by mere humans, but he knew that the lake was also the source of life for the beautiful place he was standing at now. It appealed open to anyone, and so touching it was surely an acceptable thing to do.

He turned his attention to the small lake, staring at the bottom where the rocks lay peacefully side by side, unmoved by any force of nature. He felt mesmerized by it; never before had he seen a place so beautiful as this one. The wondrous world he had stepped into just yesterday, had seem to rejuvenate him, and he felt his love for May grow stronger with each breath he took.

"What is love?" Misty asked suddenly, startling Drew.

He gave her a questioning look. "You want me to define it or what?"

"Just tell me what you think it is. It doesn't matter if it's wrong or right," she answered, taking a seat on the lush grass that covered the entire area.

"Love is…" Drew started. He didn't know how to answer her question, partially because he never gave it much thought. To him, love was just one of those words that were extremely difficult to define. Of course he knew what it was, but what was the real meaning of it? How did he know if what he felt was even love? "… A strong feeling you have for another person," he finished in an unsure tone of voice.

"Good," Misty commented. "As stated in the dictionary, love is 'a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person'. You're basically right on! You just don't use the big words like the dictionary does." She smirked at Drew and waited to hear one of his playful remarks.

As suspected, Drew gave her one of his grins and stated, "Do you carry a dictionary around with you?"

"No. But seeing as how I'm a love expert, I've had to use that word a lot throughout my life. So it's just natural for me to know the exact definition of it."

"Love expert?" Drew spat out playfully. "You look very unprofessional to me."

"Well, I must admit that it's a lot harder actually _teaching_ someone about it. You're my first and, hopefully, only student that I'll be teaching about the meaning of love," Misty stated back.

Drew gave a little chuckle. "Well, I feel special."

"You should! Now, getting back to our topic…"

"Why did you ask me to define love?" Drew asked suddenly.

"Because that way you know what it means. And you'll be able to know the difference between that and puppy love. Now, define puppy love."

"Puppy love…" Drew repeated as he tried to think of an answer. "It's almost like being lovesick, isn't it?"

"Right," Misty replied, "It's more like a blind affection; immature, young love. So, right now you're probably wondering; what is true love? How do I know that my love is true? And am I even in love?"

Drew slowly nodded his head in agreement and waited for Misty to continue.

"Drew…" she started.

"Yeah?"

"You should be writing this down."

"Fine," Drew said giving an exasperated sigh. He sat down and pulled out his notebook and pen from his backpack. He turned to the second page in his notebook, and at the top wrote "What is Love?" in big letters. Then, he looked back up at Misty with his pen lightly tapping on his notebook.

"True love is the ultimate stage of love. It's when you put your trust into that other person completely and love them for who they are. You're always telling each other the truth about everything, and you respect one another. In a similar aspect, you never threaten the other person, and you're not obsessive or abusive. Now, in my experience, I find that when someone is constantly bragging about how 'true' their love is, then that means their love isn't very true at all. Even if it is true love, you don't want to rub it in everyone's face and make them all feel as if their love is 'puppy love' and could never reach the stage of true love like yours is. I mean, when you've found true love, then great. The two of you know it; the whole rest of the world doesn't need to know it." Misty paused to take a breath and also to give Drew more time to write everything down.

Drew wrote intently on the notebook page and then looked back up when he was ready to continue.

"So then, my love for May is—" Drew started, but Misty interrupted him.

"Do you love that girl?" she asked raising her voice.

"W-what?" Drew stuttered, surprised that Misty was asking him that question again.

"Do you love that girl?" Misty repeated, eyeing him.

Drew found himself lost for words. When Misty first asked him that question, he replied back "yes" without thinking much of anything, because he knew that what he felt for May was definitely love. But now as Misty was asking him that same question again, Drew hesitated to think if what he felt for May was actually love. Could it be that he just really liked that girl? But then, wouldn't that also lead to love? Drew looked down as he tried to make sense of his own feelings, but he didn't know what to think. Finally, Misty awoke him from his train of thought by letting out another statement.

"Love seems like an overused word." She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "I hear people say it all the time, and so easily too. Even after going out with that person for less than a week, even before knowing who they truly are, they say it like it's no big deal."

Drew stared at Misty with curious eyes. "Is it supposed to be a big deal, who you say it to?"

"Of course it is!" Misty yelled back. "You can't be throwing around such meaningful words like it's nothing! If you always do that, then how do you know who the person you truly love is?"

"I believe it's called feeling it in your heart," Drew replied with a smirk.

"You don't really believe all that stuff, do you?"

"It's what everyone says," Drew said, and then flicked his hair.

Misty let out a sigh and then took out her makeup bag from inside her backpack. She gingerly pulled out her eyeliner pencil and powder, and applied it on her face while looking in the small mirror from her powder case. Drew rolled his eyes at the sight of Misty applying on makeup. May never wore much makeup, and she still looked so beautiful. He quickly jotted down some more notes down in his notebook before placing it back into his backpack.

"Are we done talking about love?" he asked as he rose to his feet.

"For the moment," Misty responded as she carefully outlined her eyes with eyeliner. "Do you have any questions?"

"Why do you wear so much makeup?" Drew teased.

Misty looked up in annoyance. "This is _not_ a lot of makeup! You should see the girls who put on twenty pounds of makeup! This is nothing!"

"Alright, alright. No need to get so defensive."

"You think I'm just a big narcissist, don't you? Do I have to remind you that I'm a model?" Misty shouted.

"You're not modeling now, so there's no need for all the makeup and fancy dressing."

"Ugh. I don't just do it for modeling, Drew." Misty said biting her teeth together so as not to sound so angry. She calmed herself and went back to applying her eyeliner again. "Ok, so maybe I use the model excuse a bit too much. To be honest, I actually love putting on makeup, not just because it'll make me look prettier, which I'm really not aiming for, but also because it's a lot of fun. I mean, sure the natural look is always a good thing too, but I find it fun to get all dolled up and everything."

"So you do it for fun, huh?" Drew questioned.

"Yes. Just like how you always flick your hair _for fun_," Misty said, enunciating the last two words.

Drew shrugged and flicked his hair again, just because Misty had brought that up. Then, he wondered if May ever wore makeup and how she would look with it on. She'd probably look even more beautiful than she already was, if that was even possible. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud zip from Misty's makeup bag, and he awkwardly looked around the area, trying not to look like he was deep in thought.

After scanning the area over ten times, he turned his attention back on Misty again. After all, he was just waiting for her to finish up. Normally, Drew would take about two minutes to get ready for the day, and all he did was fix his outfit and ruffle up his hair to make it look ok. But girls, they took forever: always had to make everything look perfect. At least Misty wasn't one of those girls who took an hour or more to get ready in the morning. Drew was glad about that.

Misty was still sitting on the grass; she had her long wavy hair over on one side and brushed it thoroughly with a pink brush. As she was doing so, she noticed that Drew was staring at her, and she lowered the brush.

"What?" she asked, wondering why Drew was staring directly at her.

"I'm just waiting for you to finish," Drew answered crossing his arms.

"Don't you need to comb your hair or something?"

"I usually just fix it a bit," Drew said while ruffling his green hair, "but other than that, I'm good to go."

"Well, do something while you're waiting for me," said Misty. She got to her feet and stared out into the lake, brushing her hair again. There was a moment of silence as both teenagers admired the lake view for the last time before they had to set off again.

Misty always enjoyed the scenery of the lake. She was always intrigued by anything having to do with water: water Pokémon, lakes, oceans, etc. Part of the reason why was because she used to be one of the Cerulean City gym leaders, which specialized in water Pokémon. She loved the job dearly, but it wasn't long before she was introduced to the idea of modeling by her three older sisters.

Her older sisters were Daisy, Violet and Lily: Daisy being the oldest, Violet, the second oldest, and Lily, the third oldest. Although they were also the gym leaders, they usually forced Misty to handle the position. All three older sisters were overly obsessed with their looks, while Misty was nowhere close to being interested in all that girl stuff. It all changed though, when a friend of Daisy's informed them all about a modeling competition right in Cerulean City. The three older sisters obviously signed up for it, confident that one of them would win. Of course, they left out Misty's name since they knew she wouldn't be interested it in. They were all convinced that Misty wasn't even beautiful enough to win a huge modeling competition.

However, it was when they saw their little sister wearing a light flowery summer dress that the older sisters decided to sign her up as well. Misty had only been wearing that because the rest of her clothes were in the wash and she had nothing else to wear, but if Misty had never worn that dress in the presence of her sisters, she would've probably never become the famous model she was.

So Daisy, Violet, and Lily signed up their little sister into the competition just for the sake of fun. Misty wasn't too happy when she heard the news though; dressing up wasn't exactly her "thing", and it seemed so bothersome to her, but in the end, she was forced to compete. The day of the competition came quickly, and before they knew it, judging time had come. Everyone was dressed up beautifully, even Misty, who surprised herself at how stunning she looked that evening. Picking out a single winner was extremely difficult when there was a line of girls who were all as gorgeous as could be, but the judges finally managed to pick one.

The winner of the competition was an astounding shock for all four sisters. The winner… was Misty. Misty: the youngest sister of the four, the one who had no interest in makeup whatsoever, the one who never worried much about her looks, and the one whom all three older sisters thought would never win. Misty couldn't believe her ears when she heard her name being called out as the winner, and she happily accepted her prize of cash.

By the time the competition ended, word about the winner spread all over the city. More and more people began to notice her, and some even complimented on how beautiful she was. It wasn't long before a modeling company, stationed in the city, decided to take Misty in as a real model. After a lot of thought, Misty agreed to it, and her life as a model had begun. At the time, her sisters were all jealous of her, still wondering how she managed to win the competition, but they soon gave in to the fact that Misty truly was a beautiful person. The three older sisters then wished her luck in her new career and took up the Gym Leader position again.

Misty's progress was very shocking to both her and the modeling company. One could even say she looked experienced even though she was just beginning. In just a couple of months, Misty was making more than $5,000 a week! And in less than a year, she was known all over Kanto, Hoenn, Johto, and Sinnoh. Her career had taken her farther than she had ever imagined.

With her wealth, she was able to have a huge mansion built for her in her hometown, but what Misty disliked about it, was that it was built in the richer part of the city, further away from the gym. There were times when she missed being with her sisters and all the water Pokémon in the gym. She didn't have much vacation time since her modeling agent was always keeping her busy. Misty didn't complain though; she loved modeling. But now as she gazed out into the crystal blue lake, she started to miss those childhood times: swimming with her Pokémon in her huge pool at the gym, hanging out with close friends, and having those small fights with her sisters.

Misty smiled upon remembering those times, and finally realized that she had stopped brushing her hair a long time ago. She always went into a state of nostalgia whenever she set eyes upon that small lake. It was almost as if the lake had some enchanting powers that brought a person to reminiscing about the past.

Closing her eyes, Misty breathed in the sweet air and allowed her body to relax. Once again, she had forgotten all about Drew, and it was only the sound of his voice that finally brought her back to reality.

"Hello, this is Drew. What are you?"

Misty immediately turned around to find Drew talking on _her_ cellphone. She flinched at the sight and ran up to him, lifting her hairbrush up as to threaten an attack on him if he didn't give her back her phone, but Drew turned his back on her, keeping Misty back with his free hand as his right hand gripped tightly on the phone.

"Um, excuse me? Did you just ask _what_ I am? I am obviously a human…" Drew heard from the other line. It sounded like an older man, and Drew wondered who the person was. "Where's Misty?" the voice added.

"Misty?" Drew repeated, and he turned his face slightly to glace over at her. "She's busy right now. Sorry," he said with a smirk that only Misty could see. Misty struggled to get her cellphone back. She tried numerous ways to grab her phone out of Drew's hands, but Drew was a lot stronger than she expected, and her trying attempts all failed to work.

"She's busy?" the voice from the other line shouted. "Busy with what? Wait, did you say this was Drew? _Drew Hayden_?"

Finally, Misty raised her hairbrush up and landed it down hard on Drew's head, making him drop the phone onto the grass. Drew gave out a little cry but kept the rest of his complaints to himself. He looked down to where he dropped the phone, only to find that it had already been snatched up by Misty. She quickly put it up to her ear and spoke into the phone.

"Hello. Sorry about that. My _friend_ here wouldn't give me my phone," Misty explained. "This is Misty," she added to assure that it was really her.

"Misty? Oh, there you are. It's Skye and um… why did your friend have your phone?" the voice answered.

"I really have no idea. Drew's just really rude," said Misty as she glared over at Drew. Drew rolled his eyes in annoyance and gently rubbed the spot on his head where Misty had hit him.

"Uh… huh… and why didn't _you _answer your phone? Well, more importantly, why are you with Drew? !"

"Uh…" Misty stammered, trying to find a way to explain everything. "I'm so sorry, Skye. I completely forgot to tell you about this before we left."

"Tell me about what? Are you two trying to elope?" Skye asked, his voice starting to sound more concerned.

"No! Do you think I would tell you if we were going to? Besides, you are way off," Misty retorted.

"Well, you two did run away…" Skye insisted.

"We didn't exactly _run away_, it was more like… we walked away."

Skye hesitated before replying back, "So you're admitting that you two were trying to elope?"

Misty suddenly realized how awkward the conversation was getting, and tried to start over with the explanation. "Look, Drew asked me to teach him the meaning of love, and so we're going on a journey so I can teach him!"

"A journey? !" Skye shouted in shock. "Why? ! Why couldn't you have just taught him here in Cerulean? And is it even possible to teach something like that?"

"I don't know, Skye, but I'm going to try; and I know a journey seems a bit overdoing it, but I felt that it would be the best way to teach him, and I'm not going to give up until he learns every single detail about it!"

Drew felt a weird sensation arouse somewhere in his body as Misty spoke those last words. He let out a small smile and turned his face away from her, even though she wouldn't have seen him smiling anyways since her back was to him. Those words clung to him; although he knew Misty was going to be trying her best to teach him, he had no idea that she was so devoted to it that she would actually go through it all until he had learned every detail about love. The feeling that stirred up as Drew heard those last words, left him in a state of awkwardness, one that he was unused to feeling; and so Drew stuck his hands in his jean pockets while focusing his mind on the beauty of the lake, hoping to let that awkward feeling fade away. All the while, he noticed that Misty had been quiet for the past couple of seconds and wondered what was going on between her conversations with the man named Skye.

Misty bit her lip as she waited for Skye's response, but soon became irritated when she heard nothing. Finally, there came a soft chuckling from the other end of the line.

"Always helping people out, aren't you?" Skye asked in a low tone. "Where are you?" he added suddenly, not waiting for Misty's reply.

"I don't know! A couple hours away from Cerulean? !" Misty answered, in more of a question form than in an answer.

"Ok. Stay where you are. I'm coming to get you." He hung up, leaving Misty speechless as her mouth gaped open.

"Skye, you jerk!" Misty screamed into the empty line. She quickly ran over to her backpack and stuffed the phone in there, carelessly.

"Who was that?" Drew asked, turning around to face her again.

"That… was Skye, my modeling agent, also known as my photographer," Misty answered in annoyance. "And why did _you _answer my phone?"

"Because you were too busy daydreaming to notice that it had rung three times already. It seemed like an important call, so I answered it for you," Drew explained.

"It… rang three times…?" Misty repeated in shock.

"Mhmm, but of course you were oblivious to it."

"Well, sorry! I got caught up thinking about my past, so that's probably why I didn't hear it go off!"

"Yep. You just had your head in the clouds. I bet you forgot all about me too."

"No, I didn't!" Misty shouted, even though she knew that she did forget about Drew at that moment.

"And Skye… it sounds more of a feminine name."

"Well, he's a feminine sort of guy! I mean, he works for a modeling company, he acts feminine, and he even looks sort of feminine!" Misty yelled, not thinking twice about what she was actually saying.

"Are you sure he's not a woman?" Drew inquired.

"Uh…" Misty started, realizing that she went a bit too far with her reasoning. "Well, what I was trying to say was… he's more of those cute guys: he's not that manly."

"Right, well anyways, we should get going now," Drew stated as he put his backpack on.

"Oh, about that! Skye said he was coming to get me, and that we should stay put until he comes," Misty muttered.

Drew looked over with a confused expression on his face. "He doesn't approve of you teaching me on a journey?"

"I don't know, but maybe if _you_ never answered my phone in the first place, I could've been able to reason with him about that."

"What's done is done, so no use yelling at me now. Plus you even got to lay a hit on my head with that brush of yours, so you should be satisfied." Drew gently flicked his hair before stating, "And quite honestly, that really hurt too. I'm almost starting to feel bad for Ash and what he had to go through traveling with your violent temper."

Misty growled and raised her hairbrush, which was still in her hand. "I'll hit you again if you keep talking like that! You should feel lucky that I don't have my mallet around with me!"

"A mallet?" Drew questioned with a smirk. "I never knew that the famous model, Misty Waterflower, was such a ruthless person. She's not at all innocent and ladylike as when I see her posing for her pictures. I guess there's a bad side to us all."

Misty screamed in rage at Drew's words and repetitively struck Drew in the head with her hairbrush. When, at last, she settled down, she straightened herself and placed her hands on her hips, feeling relieved after letting her anger out. Drew, on the other hand, placed one hand over his head while trying to contain the pain.

"Look at this," Drew remarked playfully. "You messed up my hair, teacher. I'm going to report you for that."

"Students can't report teachers!" Misty shouted as she leaned closer towards Drew.

"They can if their teachers are physically abusing their students."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Misty said sarcastically. "Did you want me to brush your hair so it looks like you have bed hair again?" She showed Drew her hairbrush, which automatically made him wince.

Drew relaxed his shoulders and turned his head away from the hairbrush in front of his face. Closing his eyes, he stated with a smirk, "Why would I want to brush my hair with the thing that hurt my head in the first place?"

"Well, fine!" Misty, not taking a second to think about it, quickly ruffled up Drew's long green hair and stormed off. "There, is that better?" she yelled back in annoyance.

Drew watched as Misty headed toward her backpack and placed her hairbrush inside. He grinned at the sight of her all worked up because of his playful remarks. Then, he carefully ran his fingers through his hair, making it a better sight to look at.

As soon as Misty dropped her hairbrush back into her backpack, she realized what she had just done, and stared down at the hand that had touched Drew's hair just a second ago. She bit her lip, trying to contain the mixed feelings inside of her. Even though she hated to admit it, she enjoyed the feeling of his soft, long, green hair against her hand. It was probably even softer and smoother than her own hair, which surprised her. Misty clenched her hand at the thought of actually touching Drew's hair, and tried to make the thought of it go away. But once she regained her state of mind again, all she could think about was his hair, and she wondered how it was even possible to get it so soft. It was like running one's fingers through silk.

Misty shut her eyes, and quickly put on her backpack. But as soon as she saw Drew again, she found herself staring intently at his rich green hair. She felt a sudden urge to go touch it again, just to feel that same softness she felt before, but knew that she would look like a creeper doing that, she so looked away.

"Let's go," Drew said, walking in front of Misty.

"Ok," Misty replied, still bothered by the thought of touching his hair. She took two steps, but then remembered about what Skye had told her during their conversation.

"Wait, what about Skye?" she announced aloud.

"Do you want to wait for him so he can come pick you up?"

"No, but—"

"Then, let's go."

Misty hesitated before running up to catch up with Drew. She knew that if they waited for Skye, he would only take her back to Cerulean, and their journey would end; so it looked like they had no choice but to continue on.

Within a few minutes, the two found themselves back on the main road, steadily walking side by side in silence. During this silence, Misty was thinking of an orderly way to teach Drew the meaning of love. She didn't have anything planned out, and the things she told Drew about before were the first ideas that came into her mind. She thought it was a good starting place, but even then, she wasn't exactly sure how to teach the lesson. If only she had someone else to help her out, then maybe she would've been able to teach him more successfully.

"Well, I must admit, that place back there was really beautiful," Drew suddenly stated, causing Misty to turn her attention to him.

"I know. I love it so much," she responded with a smile. "Oh, and I don't think I told you this yet, but please don't tell anyone about it." She turned to look at him with serious eyes. "It seems like such a sacred place, and if word were to get out, the entire place could get destroyed: numerous people coming to take a look at the place, damaging the area with their careless actions. I don't want anything like that to happen, so please, keep it a secret."

Drew understood what the older girl was talking about and immediately nodded. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone. I promise."

Another smile came across Misty's face as she felt secure that her secret place would still remain a secret to the rest of the world.

The two teenagers walked on, going at Drew's quick pace. Both remained quiet as they walked; Drew was never talking much during his travels anyways, but Misty felt the need to talk. When she was travelling back with Ash and Brock, there always seemed to be conversations happening about at every moment; may it be excitement for the next gym battle, arguments about the lesser things in life, or just simple everyday conversations, there was always some sort of talk going on in their little group. But now that Misty was with someone who wasn't as talkative as her other friends, she felt almost as if she was going to go insane from the dead silence. She didn't understand how she dealt with it when she and Drew first started out, but now she was really in the mood for talking. She was just about to start a conversation when the sound of Drew's voice caught her attention.

"Do you hear something?"

Misty listened in for anything that sounded suspicious, but couldn't hear anything.

"It sounds like a low rumbling from somewhere," Drew added as he turned around.

"I hear it now!" Misty said and turned around as well. There, in the distance, the two saw a tiny cloud of dust appear before the road, and the low rumbling sound was getting louder.

"Wait, it can't be…" Misty started as she fixed her eyes on the moving object that was coming towards them.

"What?" Drew asked in confusion.

"Is it! It's Skye!" Misty screamed in shock. "We should hide!" But there was no time to hide, for just seconds after Misty shouted that out, a shiny, blue, expensive looking car pulled up to the side of them.

"Well, it's a bit too late for that, teacher," Drew stated and then grinned.

"Thanks for pointing that out!" Misty yelled back sarcastically.

The two watched as the window rolled down, revealing a young man with light brown hair at the driver's seat. The man seemed a bit too young to be working for such a large and rich company, but he was very professional in his work, which was all that mattered.

"Hey, Mist," the man said casually.

"Hi," Misty replied nervously as she diverted her eyes away from him.

"Get in the car, both of you," he said, signaling to take a seat in the back.

"No, Skye, we can't go back home just yet, we still—" Misty started, but Skye cut her off.

"Whoever said I was taking you back home?"

Misty's eyes widened as she took in Skye's words. "Wait… so you mean…?"

"Yeah. I'll give you a ride to Pewter. That's where you're headed, right? It'll save you more time, and also, you won't have to go through the dreaded Mount Moon."

"Oh, Skye! Thank you so much!" She turned to face Drew and said, "Come on! Now we'll be able to get to Pewter much faster!"

The two got in the backseat of the huge car, and Skye drove down the road, leaving the beautiful secret place far behind them.


	5. Signs of an Overused Scenario

**A/N: ** I want to thank all of you who have made it this far in the story! I'm glad to see that there are some people reading it. The idea of Waterflowershipping is meant to be like a rival for Contestshipping. (Well, obviously). For example, I know a lot of authors use Hoennshipping to make Drew jealous and such and a lot of people still read the story anyways (probably because they know the ending will be Contestshipping), so Waterflowershipping works the same way. The ending to this story may be Contestshipping too, but I'm not going to spoil it. There's more to the book than just the cover, and there's more to the story than just the pairing. So enjoy the next chapter!

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

_**Signs of an Overused Scenario**_

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><p>"So what's this about a love journey?" Skye asked a couple minutes after they set off. Misty felt her whole body stiffen at the sound of the phrase "love journey". By the way Skye had said it, it sounded as if she and Drew were going to go on a romantic journey around Kanto, which wasn't true. She relaxed her muscles and calmly explained the situation to him once again.<p>

"It's not a love journey. It's a journey to teach _this guy here_ the_ meaning_ of love." She pointed her finger sternly at Drew, who sat emotionless in the backseat with Misty.

"I assume it's because he's trying to get with a girl, isn't he?" Skye stated keeping his eyes on the road.

"That's right! So I'm going to be teaching him all about it. Then maybe he'll finally gain enough courage to ask her out."

Drew turned to look out the car window, feeling embarrassed because of Misty telling someone else about his love life. Hoping to embarrass Misty back, he remarked, "If you know so much about love, then why don't you just ask _your_ crush out already?" He smirked when he saw a faint blush come across her face.

"Shut up! We're talking about _you_ now, aren't we? And besides, I don't want to ask Ash out! He's the one who needs to ask _me_ out!" Misty shouted back.

"I could help you with that," Drew said coolly.

"R-really?" Misty stammered, drawing back. The sudden subject of Ash had flustered her, and she was unsure if what Drew said was really the truth or just a joke.

"Oh-no. Not this scenario again," Skye said with dissatisfaction. The sudden comment caught the two teenagers' attention, and they looked up at Skye expectantly.

"What do you mean?" Misty asked in confusion.

"You know… when two teenagers, one male, the other, female, agree to collaborate in order to get with the person they like; but after a while, they end up falling for each other," the young man answered deliberately.

"Are you saying that Drew and I are going to end up falling for each other?"

"It could happen," Skye replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Actually, it's never going to happen. Never! I think you've been watching too many soap operas!" Misty shouted in rage.

"Instant denial: the first sign that it's going to happen," Skye proudly stated.

"There is no sign behind me denying it, because it's never going to happen, Skye! The both of us already have someone that we like, and besides, there's no way I could ever fall for such an arrogant guy like Drew!" Misty retorted.

"Is that so?" Drew questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Glad to know that we're on the same page there, teacher. Oh, and also, your hair is way too orange for me."

"Oh yeah? Well, your hair is way too green for me!"

"That doesn't matter, because I like someone else, not you."

"And I don't 'like' you either! So there's no way that we could ever fall for each other!" said Misty, more to Skye than to Drew.

"Excessive reasoning: the second sign that it's going to happen," Skye said with a smile.

"Will you shut up, Skye? !" Misty yelled as she took off her seatbelt and leaned toward Skye in an attack position.

"Settle down, Mist. I was only playing around. No need to get so worked up by it," he said backing away from Misty's fist that was inches away from his face. He slowly blinked and then focused his eyes on the road again, muttering, "Of course, that's the third sign."

"You must be crazy!" Misty gave a loud scream of annoyance and threw her hands over her head while Drew just watched her in amusement.

"Put your seatbelt back on. You'll get hurt," Skye warned.

"No I won't…" Misty started, but as soon as she caught a glimpse of the speedometer, her eyes widened in shock. "Skye! Slow down! You're going 70 on a 45 speed limit zone!"

Skye merely chuckled. "That's why you should buckle up, Mist." He pressed his foot down on the accelerator pedal, causing Misty to fall back in her seat at the sudden impact. She let out a little cry as she hit the backseat and then gave Skye an evil glare, aggravated by his stubborn attitude. Without saying another word, she put her seatbelt on once again and looked out the car window, crossing her arms and legs to show off her anger.

"So how, exactly, are you going to teach Drew the meaning of love?" Skye asked once things seemed to settle down a bit. Misty kept quiet, still frustrated by Skye's teasing, and concentrated on the moving scenery before her eyes.

"Might I suggest teaching him everything there is to know about relationships, such as how to ask a girl out, how to stay in a relationship and so on and so forth?" he continued when she didn't answer.

"I guess I could do that…" Misty grumbled.

Skye let out a small sigh and then shook his head. He knew he should've been used to her mood swings after working with her for three years, but her mood swings were always so rampant that even after all that time, he still didn't know how to deal with them. He could only wait until she had calmed herself down before teasing her again.

"I still find it strange that Drew would go to you for help. It's not like he really needs help getting himself a girl; he's got thousands of girls swooning over him already," Skye stated, trying to keep the conversation going.

Misty shrugged her shoulders, still keeping her gaze on the window as hundreds of trees passed her vision. "The girl's different," she said bluntly.

"I'll say: if Drew's actually going to someone else for advice." The young man glanced into the rear view mirror to see Drew staring blankly out the window as he rested his head against the seat. "So who's the lucky girl, Drew?"

"Just some girl," Drew replied nonchalantly.

"It's not just 'some girl' if you're willing to travel around Kanto with Misty to learn all about love, which, by the way, you choose the worst person to travel with."

"What? !" Misty screamed as she turned to face Skye once again.

"Misty knows a lot about love, that's for sure, but she's also short tempered, not to mention violent: tease her just one little bit and she'll let all her anger out right in front of you. Fortunately, I took away her mallet, so that should lessen the damage."

"Well, she still hits pretty hard," Drew said, smirking at Misty, who gave him an angry glare back.

"What? Don't tell me she already hit you," Skye said in surprise.

"She had more strength in her than I thought she would; it really surprised me."

"Misty!" Skye yelled accusingly.

"Hey, he started it!" Misty shouted with a look of annoyance.

The model agent gave a small smile as he rolled his eyes. The two older teenagers seemed to get along pretty well. Drew was one of few people who dared to keep teasing Misty to the point where she became dangerously brutal, and seeing how Misty loved to get her way, it would become difficult when Drew was the one arguing with her. Skye was sure that they could argue on for days if it weren't for Drew ending it: of course it would be Drew, since Misty never wanted to lose an argument. That girl always had to make her point.

"Oh yeah. I brought you a present, Mist," Skye suddenly remarked.

"A present? For me?" Misty repeated in excitement.

"Yep. It's in your small bag right here." He reached over to the passenger seat and held up a small light blue backpack with Misty's name on it, written in cursive letters. Misty smiled brightly at the sight of her backpack and quickly took it into her hands.

"My Pokémon!" she exclaimed pulling out two red and white Pokéballs from inside the bag. "What Pokémon did you bring?"

"I brought Corsola, Horsea, Starmie, Azurill, and Gyarados."

"Thank you so much, Skye! I haven't seen them for so long. I'm so glad you went back to the gym to get them for me!" said Misty, hugging her backpack.

"No problem. I thought, since you two left in a hurry, that you wouldn't have brought any Pokémon with you. And since you two are going on a journey, you'll need Pokémon to protect you, so as soon as I got off the phone with you, I went over to the gym and your sisters helped me to pick out your Pokémon," Skye explained.

"This is amazing. I've missed every one of you guys so much," Misty said to her Pokéballs as she picked up each one. Drew watched her in curiosity and slowly rested his hand on his backpack, where his own Pokémon were. He lowered his head, putting on a faint smirk and then looked up at Misty again.

"Gym leader, huh? I can't imagine you as one," he playfully stated.

"Well then, you'll be surprised when I beat you in a Pokémon battle!"

"I don't know about that. You're probably a bit rusty now, seeing as you haven't battled ever since your career started up."

"Oh yeah? Well as soon as we reach Pewter we should have a Pokémon battle!"

"Why not," Drew said casually and then flicked his bangs. "I'll be sure to go easy on you though."

"You'll regret that when I end up winning!" Misty replied with enthusiasm.

"Hold up! Was that a hair flick I just saw?" Skye shouted in shock.

"Uh… yeah?" Drew answered hesitantly.

"Really? _The_ famous flirtatious hair flick of Drew Hayden?"

The two teenagers flinched at the sound of Skye's sentence, but Drew quickly recovered.

"It's not meant to be flirtatious," he said calmly putting a hand under his long bangs. "It's just… what I do." He graciously flicked his bangs again and smiled proudly. Misty, all the while, watched Drew with her mouth slightly open as he effortlessly flipped his bangs away from his eyes. Their eyes met, and she quickly shut her mouth, realizing that Drew would take it the wrong way. She was only flustered by Skye's constant remarks and Drew's habitual hair flick to even realize that her mouth had been slightly open; and quite frankly, she want to just step out of the car to avoid any more awkward moments with the two guys.

"Sure, sure," said Skye, "I saw that, you know: The way you stared at Mist with such seductive eyes as you continuously teased her, and then you purposely flicked your hair to get her attention. Hmph… typical."

Misty's face reddened as she clenched her teeth to keep herself from going on a rampage. She absolutely hated when Skye made fun of her with another guy. He always did that to her with every single guy who talked to her, and she had no idea why; but she couldn't let Skye keep doing that with her and Drew. She was just about to yell at Skye when Drew responded to him in a serious voice.

"What are you even saying? If you really want to know, the person I like is May: May Maple."

At the sound of Drew's calm voice, Skye immediately flinched, letting his feet drift off of the accelerator pedal. But as soon as he did that, he quickly pressed down on it again, focusing his mind on the road in front of him.

"Hmm… a different one this time," Skye muttered to himself. Drew and Misty couldn't make out the words to what he had just said, but didn't bother to ask, for they probably wouldn't understand it anyways.

The car was suddenly very quiet. Skye had stopped with his little remarks, and instead, tried to look busy concentrating on the road. As he was doing so, his mind started to fill up with thoughts about Misty, but he made sure to keep his attention on the road.

Skye was actually very protective of Misty. He always viewed her as a delicate little girl since she was slimmer and appeared younger than most other teenagers around her age. Because of her exquisite structure, Skye always felt the need to look after her to ensure that no harm came upon her. Thus, he did more than what a normal model agent would do. He acted like an older brother to her: a role model whom she never had before since all her older siblings were females. With Skye around, Misty never felt lonesome, and she quickly adapted to relying on Skye to look after her; and Skye adapted quite the same way, always watching over Misty with caring eyes with each passing day. So of course it would be hard on him when other guys tried to flirt with her.

There were many occasions when a guy would try to flirt with Misty, and for some of those occasions, Skye was there to watch from afar in case anything dangerous happened. After observing several encounters Misty had with each guy, Skye finally came to a point where he couldn't take it any longer, and from then on, he was always more protective over her. From Skye's observations, the guys were always either acting to impress Misty or being too careless about her feelings, as many of the guys just seemed to have something else on their minds than just conversing with the beautiful model.

As more and more guys started to approach Misty, Skye finally made a decision to do something about the situation. So one day when an older man was trying to cajole Misty to spending the day with him, Skye stepped up to the man and, very unexpectedly, started to tease him being together with Misty. Normally, teasing would've been futile for the situation, but Skye was no ordinary guy. Although he appeared sweet and innocent, mainly because of his light brown bangs that perfectly framed his face, he was actually very guileful and reckless, but he always knew when to act that way and when not to, seeing as how his reputation was important to him. His sense of guile was useful during that situation, and Skye was able to keep badgering the older man until he became so embarrassed, that he walked off, never looking back at Misty the same way again, not with her "protective bodyguard" looking after her.

His tactic had work quite well, and from then on, he always teased every guy who tried to talk to Misty. The model soon took notice of Skye's unusual behavior, feeling it unnecessary to do that to every single guy she came in contact with. It even happened with her guy friends whom she had known since her childhood times. But Skye had had enough of the behavior shown by numerous men, so he made it a habit to tease every guy Misty talked to, regardless of status.

So came the situation with teasing Drew in the car. However, the reaction he had gotten from Drew was much different than the usual reactions he received from other men. Instead of keeping silent and feeling uncomfortable, Drew had actually spoken out for himself and with a different response as well! He didn't even seem the least bit interested in Misty and her beautiful appearance. It was obvious that he was a responsible guy, and Skye realized that he could take in to consideration having Misty travelling around Kanto with Drew Hayden.

With Skye keeping quiet, the teenagers in the backseat soon became curious as to why he had become silent all of a sudden, but they didn't let it bother them too much. Drew looked out the window again, glad that the conversation had ended for the most part while Misty remembered about her Pokéballs and transferred all of them into her backpack that she was already carrying. Skye noticed the backpack and finally spoke out again.

"Where did you get that backpack from?"

"This? It's from Drew," Misty replied back, forgetting about their previous conversation they had about her and Drew.

Skye opened his mouth to say something, but then immediately closed it. He knew he had done enough teasing for the day and that it was time to be serious.

"I wouldn't tell anyone that you two are travelling together," he said with a straight face. The statement gave the two a bit of a surprise, and they both looked up at Skye.

"Hm? Why not?" Misty asked.

"Think about it: two very rich and famous people travelling together? And to learn about the meaning of love too? People are going to think things and that's how false rumors are started," he explained.

"You're right," Misty agreed wistfully. "But then how will this journey work out if we can't even be seen together?"

"Well, I never said you couldn't be seen together just… be careful about… you know—just don't do anything too suspicious, alright?"

"We won't."

"Then everything should be fine… for the most part, that is. How long do you think the journey will last?"

Misty gulped. She hadn't thought about the time period over which their journey last. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't planned out the journey as well as she should have, and was starting to feel glad that Skye was there for her.

"I guess as long as it takes for Drew to learn everything," she simply replied.

"Well, that could take more than a month," Skye noted.

"What did you expect it to be? A week's journey?" Misty retorted in annoyance.

"Ok, Misty. I'll tell you what. I'm going to give you one—" Skye stopped in midsentence to ensure that Misty was paying close attention to his words, "—one month to teach Drew about the meaning of love. After the end of the month, he'll have to prove to me that he learned something valuable from your lessons, but if I don't feel that it's efficient…" he paused again to keep the two teenagers waiting in suspense, "…then the journey's over. You understand?"

"Y-yeah," Misty answered hesitantly. It wasn't because she doubted that Drew wouldn't be able to learn anything from her lessons but because Skye's behavior was so different than what she was used to. She felt that he was being so much stricter that he should've been and wondered why he was acting that way.

The rest of the drive to Pewter City was comfortably quiet. No one had anything else to say even for casual conversations, but none of them minded one bit, for they were all lost in their own thoughts to pay much attention to the quiet air that surrounded them. When, at last, they had reached the outskirts of Pewter, Skye slowed the car to a stop and turned his upper body around to face the two teenagers in the back.

"Here we are: Pewter City," he stated, but there was something different in his tone of voice that Misty couldn't figure out. She glanced up at him in confusion.

"Umm, why are you dropping us off here?" she asked.

Skye sighed. "You never think things through, Misty. Do you really think I'm going to drop you two off in the middle of the city with all those other _people_ around?"

"He has a point, teacher," Drew said accordingly.

Misty immediately softened, knowing that they were right. She let out a small smile and relaxed back in her seat.

"You're right. Thank you for the ride, Skye. And actually, thank you for everything," she said earnestly.

"You're welcome, Mist," Skye replied, keeping his gaze on his delicate angel. The two smiled at each other, enjoying each other's presence. They soon became so focused on one another that, for a moment, they had even forgotten that Drew was in the car with them.

"Alright, time to go," Drew mumbled and then unbuckled his seatbelt. He quickly unlocked the door and stepped out of the car. Misty looked away awkwardly and then stepped out of the car as well. She took a deep breath as she approached Drew and then stretched out her arms.

"Ah, Pewter City. I haven't been here in so long," she stated as she stared at the road in front of her that led to the entrance of the city. "Well, let's go!"

Misty ran down the road with her hands clasping the straps of her small backpack. Drew watched as she ran toward the city and started to run after her when Skye suddenly spoke out.

"Hey, Drew," he started. Drew quickly turned around to see Skye's face as the driver seat window rolled all the way down. He kept quiet, wondering why Skye had suddenly called out for him. The two stared at each other with uncertainty, and finally, Skye said in a concerned voice, "Look after her, alright?"

Drew gave back a confused look. "Yeah. Of course I will."

"Good. I don't want to see her all upset or anything by the end of the month… because if she is…" Skye hesitated, realizing that he didn't have to threaten Drew; he surely wasn't one of those undependable types of people, "…well, you're a pretty responsible guy from what I've heard so I'm sure you'll look after her just fine."

"Don't worry. I'll be sure that she won't get injured or anything of the sort," Drew reassured. His words put a small smile on Skye's face.

"Alright. I'm counting on you, Drew. She may act really strong, especially when she's angry, but in reality, she's actually really fragile just like all other girls. It's rare to ever see her shed a single tear, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have any feelings. Honestly, she's one of the most interesting girls I've ever met. She's always helping out other people with their problems no matter what it is. But as you've probably noticed, she doesn't always think things through. If a situation interests her, then she immediately makes it her business, not even knowing what she's getting herself into. Well, what I'm trying to say is… make sure she doesn't do anything stupid, ok? She may be your teacher, but she's still your friend."

"Right…" Drew answered slowly, trying to take in all of what Skye had told him. "I'll look after her." He started down the road when he heard Skye again.

"Oh, and one more thing!"

Drew turned around again, annoyed that Skye needed to tell him so much about his teacher, but he didn't let his state of annoyance show on the outside.

"Bug Pokémon creep her out completely," Skye announced with a grin.

Drew let out a smirk and then replied, "I'll try to remember that." Skye's grin widened and he gave a small wave to Drew before driving off into the distance. When Skye was out of sight, Drew made his way to the entrance of Pewter City where Misty was waiting for him.

"What took you so long?" Misty asked with her hands on her hips.

"I just had a little talk with Skye," Drew replied bluntly.

"Yeah?" Misty questioned, curious about what their conversation was about. "And what did you two talk about?"

"Nothing very important."

"Everyone always says that, but it's never true! So tell me what it is you two were talking about!"

"Nothing. This time just so happens to be true, because it's neither important nor interesting," Drew remarked, giving another flick of his hair.

"Do you want to get hurt again? !" Misty screamed as she went upon her tiptoes.

"So violent," Drew stated calmly. "Ash is never going to want to be your boyfriend if you're always so angry."

Misty's face flushed and she angrily retorted, "Well May is never going to want to be your girlfriend if you're always so arrogant!"

"Interesting comeback. Well, if you really must know, we were talking about you," Drew stated and then closed his eyes as he walked into the city.

Misty stopped to think about what they could've possibly been talking about with her as the subject, but then she realized something else Drew had just said. "Wait, are you calling me boring? !"

"Who knows," Drew replied with a smirk.

Misty growled and then ran after Drew, shouting, "Come back here you big headed egoistic freak!"

* * *

><p>Pewter City was a small, quiet city surrounded by rugged mountains and rocks. It was the hometown of Misty's friend, Brock, who also happened to be the gym leader of that city. Brock specialized in rock type Pokémon, which would make sense since their city was located between thousands of rocks. There wasn't much in the city except for the Pewter Museum of Science, which attracted the most attention for tourists or Pokémon trainers on their journey.<p>

Drew and Misty, however, weren't at Pewter City to stop at a museum. They were there to visit Brock, who was most likely at the gym. As the two teenagers approached the gym, they saw a boy at around the age of ten running out, carrying an injured Bulbasaur in his arms.

"Hang in there, Bulbasaur. You'll be alright!" the little boy comforted and ran into a nearby Pokémon Center.

"Looks like that little boy couldn't defeat Brock," Misty stated.

"You're sure good at pointing out the obvious," Drew teased.

"That's it!" Misty screamed, not being able to handle Drew's attitude for any longer. "Pokémon battle now!" She fiercely grabbed Drew by the wrist and stormed into the gym, pulling Drew along with her.

"Brock!" she yelled out once they were inside the gym. An older man with a tan skin color and spiky brown hair was in the middle of the huge gym with a Pokéball in his hand. He turned his head to the entrance of the gym, and took a step back at what he saw.

"Misty? !" he said in shock. "And… Drew?" His eyes were focused on the orange-haired teenager who had her hand tightly gripping Drew's wrist as they entered the gym.

"What are you two doing here?" Brock asked still not believing that his old childhood friend, whom he hadn't seen in over three years, was actually in front of him again.

"We're here to have a Pokémon battle and we'd like to use your battlefield!" Misty cried out in anger. She quickly let go of Drew and marched onto the rocky battlefield. Since Brock was a rock type gym leader, his battlefield was made to his advantage: a dirt field with rugged rocks sticking out from the ground.

"Wait. So let me get this straight. You two came all the way here… just for a Pokémon battle?" Brock said in confusion.

"Actually, it's more complicated than that, but we'll explain everything after our battle," Drew answered.

"If you say so."

"Brock, you'll be our battle judge! Now let's battle!" Misty yelled and then ran over to the far side of the field. She quickly reached into her backpack and pulled out a small Pokéball. With a press of the center button, the Pokéball suddenly grew larger and she tightened her grip on it. Drew gave a little smile, satisfied by Misty's enthusiasm, and then took his place upon the field.

Brock slowly walked to the center of the sideline and then loudly announced, "The one on one Pokémon battle between Misty from Cerulean City and Drew from LaRousse City will shortly begin. Each trainer is allowed one Pokémon to use for battle, and the battle will end when a Pokémon is no longer able to battle. Begin!"

"Alright, Gyarados! I choose you!" Misty shouted as she threw the Pokéball from her hand. A giant blue serpent like creature appeared from the Pokéball and let out a mighty roar as it appeared on the battlefield. It turned around to face the person who had just called it out, and put on a surprised expression when it saw who it was.

"Hey Gyarados, remember me?" Misty said in alacrity. The Gyarados looked over at Misty with caring eyes and then let out another roar. Of course it remembered Misty. She was the person who helped it learn to trust people, and from then on, it was always more considerate and understanding of other people.

"Let's win this battle against Drew, ok?" she added and the Gyarados cried out in response.

Drew stood on the other side of the field and gave a low chuckle. Then, he flicked his hair and called out his Pokémon.

"Roserade, let's go!" A small green creature with an appearance of short white hair and bouquets of red and blue roses as its hands suddenly emerged onto the battlefield. It landed in a graceful position and sweetly called out its name, making a dazzling entrance.

"I'll give you the first move," Drew said confidently.

"Don't you go easy on me, grasshead!" Misty shouted in dissatisfaction.

"Well in that case, _I'll_ make the first move. Roserade, use Petal Dance!"

Roserade obeyed and exerted a beautiful, yet powerful attack of Petal Dance. Hundreds of light pink rose petals shot out from Roserade's hand, aimed directly at Gyarados.

"Gyarados! Use Flamethrower!" Misty cried out. Her Gyarados opened its mouth, and a large amount of fire shot back at Roserade's rose petals, burning all of them to a crisp and landing a direct hit on the small creature.

"Roserade!" Drew shouted in surprise.

"Yes! Way to go, Gyarados!" the model cheered.

Drew quickly relaxed and then let out another smirk. "Not bad for someone who hasn't battled in three years."

"Oh, stop trying to act so cool. You're just saying that because you can't admit that I'm a better Pokémon trainer than you," Misty stated proudly.

"That was merely a compliment. But take it in as whatever you want then. Now Roserade! Use Mega Drain!"

The Roserade cried out its name in response and quickly stuck out its arm, releasing a green beam from its hand. The beam flew over the field and successfully hit Gyarados, absorbing the Gyarados's health into its own body.

"No!" Misty shouted in concern as Gyarados cried out in pain. "Quick, Gyarados! Use Headbutt!"

The Gyarados snapped out of its affliction, and lunged at the Roserade head first. But as it neared its opponent, Drew quickly called out, "Now use Magical Leaf!"

Roserade immediately stopped the green beam from shining out and instead, shot out multiple glowing leaves at the incoming Gyarados. The leaves went at great speeds toward Gyarados and hit the creature with a large amount of force, causing the huge creature to crash onto the ground.

"Oh-no! Gyarados!" Misty yelled worriedly. She knew that grass type moves were super effective against her water type Pokémon; and from looking at the sight of Gyarados lying on the battlefield, she wondered if it would still have enough energy to continue fighting.

"Should I go easy on you now?" Drew remarked with a grin.

"Never!" the water Pokémon trainer shouted back.

"If you say so," the coordinator said, shrugging his shoulders. "Alright, Roserade! Solarbeam!"

Roserade put its hands together and started to absorb as much energy as it could. As soon as Roserade's hands were together, a small circle of energy started to form in front of its hands and grew larger with each second. However, that time which Roserade was absorbing energy was just enough time for Misty to make a direct attack on it.

"Now Gyarados! Hyper Beam at Roserade!" she shouted, hoping that Drew wouldn't have any other surprise attacks up his sleeve.

Gyarados struggled to get up, but when it finally did, it let out a tremendous roar and emitted a huge beam toward the Roserade. At that second, Roserade tilted its head up at the incoming beam and released its stored energy. The Solarbeam attack from Roserade countered Gyarados's Hyper Beam, and it became a battle over who had more power.

There seemed to be no distinct way of seeing whose attack was more powerful; both attacks were constantly in the middle, fighting for dominance, and if it continued, they would've probably stayed in that position for quite a while. Drew, however, wasn't in the mood to wait there all day, and he quickly called out to his Pokémon.

"Roserade! Give me a burst of energy!"

The small Pokémon obeyed its trainer and put forth a great amount of energy into its Solarbeam which caused it to push Gyarados's Hyper Beam back to its side. At this, Gyarados immediately straightened up, appearing taller than before, and then leaned forward, sending out more powerful amount of energy toward the opposing attack.

"Now! Magical Leaf!" Drew shouted immediately. Roserade cut off its Solarbeam and ran toward the Gyarados, avoiding the Hyper Beam that was suddenly dispersed onto the ground, creating a loud explosion. Gyarados drew back, surprised by its own attack, which appeared even stronger when it hit the ground, but then quickly looked around for the Roserade. However, it was too late. Roserade suddenly appeared in front of it and let out another shot of Magical Leaf. The attack was another direct hit, and the Gyarados fell onto the ground in a state of unconsciousness.

"Gyarados is unable to battle! Drew and his Roserade win!" Brock announced from the sideline.

Misty ran over to her Gyarados who lay injured on the battlefield. She lay a careful hand on it and quietly spoke out, "Gyarados, are you alright?"

The Gyarados looked at Misty and answered back softly in its own language while nodding its head yes. Misty smiled at her Pokémon and gave it a quick hug.

"You were great, Gyarados. I really enjoyed having that battle with you. You really impressed me with your power. I guess it must be because I haven't seen you for so long, and you grew incredibly strong." She stood up and pulled out her Pokéball. "Rest up, Gyarados." A small beam of red light from the center button of the Pokéball came upon the Gyarados, and the Pokémon returned back into its Pokéball. Misty stared at the Pokéball in her hand with a gentle smile. Although it upset her that she had lost to Drew, she still felt a part of herself feeling delighted from the excitement she felt from when she was battling. It brought back the old memories of her days as a gym leader, and she knew then that over the long three years of working as a model, she really had lost some of her skills and tactics.

Misty slowly looked up, and to her surprise, Drew was coming toward her with his right hand extending out.

"Not bad. Of course if you kept training, you probably would've been able to do more damage to Roserade," he stated in a kind voice.

"I know," Misty replied softly. "You're really strong, I'll admit that." She turned her head to the side to hide her embarrassment.

Drew let out a small smile and then dropped his hand, seeing as Misty wasn't going to shake it. He turned around to call Roserade back into its Pokéball and then put it away in his backpack.

"Ok, now that the battle's over, will someone please explain to me what's going on? !" Brock shouted as he ran over Drew and Misty, who were standing in the middle of the battlefield.

Misty sighed, and then looked at Brock calmly. "Sure thing, Brock. But maybe we should discuss it somewhere else."

Brock agreed and led Drew and Misty over to his house, which happened to be just behind the gym building. It was a huge house, mostly because Brock had a huge family. The family consisted of the two parents and ten kids including Brock. All the kids, however, were all grown up and were more like teenagers now, but most of them decided to stay at the gym to help out.

When the three friends entered the house, one of Brock's siblings came up to him and happily cried out, "Brock! I heard you defeated another Pokémon Trainer."

"Yeah, even though he had the advantage with his Bulbasaur, he wasn't quite ready to defeat me yet," Brock replied and then added, "Salvadore, I'm going to having a little discussion with my friends here now, so can you tell everyone else not to bother us for the time being?"

"Sure thing, Brock," answered the younger sibling. He ran off to another place in the house and soon, Brock, Misty and Drew were alone. Brock led his friends over to his dinner table and all three of them took a seat on the chairs.

"So… what's this with you and Drew?" Brock asked, more to Misty than to Drew. Misty explained the situation to him, and he listened to her quietly, nodding his head every once in a while. She told him about their plan to travel around Kanto and then began explaining almost everything that had happened since their journey started. While she knew that Skye had warned her not to mention anything about her and Drew travelling together, she believed that telling Brock was fine since Brock was basically going to help as well. Plus, he was one of her best friends, and she already made him promise not to tell anyone else.

Since Misty was the one doing the most of the explanation, Drew found himself becoming bored. He listened in to what Misty was telling Brock to make sure what she was saying was accurate, but other than that he just looked around Brock's house, examining the décor.

When, at last, Misty finished, Brock gave her a blank stare, his face seeming emotionless.

"Wait... so you want to use_ me_ to teach _him_ about the meaning of love?" Brock inquired.

"Well, yeah."

"How are you going to do that?"

Misty gave a little smirk and then replied, "Easy, just follow me."

* * *

><p>The little group made their way to the center of the city, where there was a big open area with benches placed every few feet away from each other. Although the city was small and quiet, there were still a number of people out of their house and walking down the streets. Brock, Misty and Drew stopped in middle of the open area and Misty explained her plan to Brock.<p>

"So all you have to do is go up to a girl and act like how you always act around them."

"You want me to act like that?" Brock repeated with a hint of disapproval in his voice. "I don't know about that, Misty. I was just really stupid to act like that back then, and it's been a while since I was like that. Maybe the habit wore off."

"Oh, don't give me that! Now go and like a girl!" Misty yelled back.

"But what if I can't—" Brock started, but was soon interrupted by the zooming of a motorcycle passing the group. Brock immediately turned to see who it was and cried out almost instantly, "Officer Jenny!"

The police officer on the motorcycle heard her name being called and slowed to a stop. She turned around to see who it was and smiled when she saw Brock.

"Hello there Brock. Is something the matter?" she asked making her way back to the little group.

"Yes, there's a big problem!" Brock answered, and then took Officer Jenny's hands into his. "There's this really beautiful girl out on the loose and she just so happens to be right in front of me!"

"Umm, that's not necessarily a crime," the officer responded nervously with a weak chuckle.

"Oh, it's a huge crime. But fortunately, I have caught her! Now all the beautiful girl needs is a punishment. How about having dinner with me tonight?"

"You know, I really need to go now, because there's a love sick guy out on the loose, who will receive punishment from me if he doesn't let go of me right now," Officer Jenny replied sternly. Brock let go of Officer Jenny's hand in disappointment and the officer drove off in her motorcycle.

When she was out of sight, Misty happily remarked, "It wore off, huh? Seems to me that you still have it in you."

Brock remained silent which surprised Misty, and she wondered if he had been affected by that rejection much more that she thought.

"Brock…?" the model started slowly. Suddenly, Brock appeared in front of her with love in his eyes.

"Have I ever told you that you look quite beautiful as a model?" he said quickly and held out a hand toward her.

"Umm, yeah, you are _not _acting like that with me," Misty stated as she pushed Brock away from her.

Brock gave a groan, but then turned around and saw other girls walking pass. He gave a loud shout of excitement and ran toward each girl, flirting with them endlessly. At the sight of him, Misty and Drew both took a step back as to not look like they were actually friends with that love sick guy and then finally decided to take a seat on a nearby bench, assuming Brock was going to be a while.

"Is that was you had planned? For him to act like that?" Drew asked as he watched Brock go up to every girl that passed by the open area.

"Yep. It's part of your lesson," Misty answered. "Can you tell me what he's doing wrong?"

"Well, obviously he's being way too forward. And by the way he actually takes the girl's hand into his... it's no surprise that the girl runs away from him."

"Correct," Misty commented and then sighed. "Brock really needs help if he's still acting like this at the age of twenty three."

The two teenagers relaxed back in the bench and watched as Brock ran from girl to girl, trying to talk with them, but he had little success.

"What would you do different if you were Brock?" Misty asked.

"I am not Brock, so don't even ask me that," Drew replied crossing his arms.

"Fine. Let me reword that: What would you do if you wanted to ask a girl out?"

"I would get to know her first, and then maybe start getting closer to her. Then if I really wanted to, I would ask her out. The only problem is that I just don't know how."

"Well then, you'll probably want to get out your notebook so you can take more notes," Misty responded with a smile.

"Ugh, notes," Drew repeated in disgust.

"You won't be able to remember everything, Drew, so writing them down will help you out a lot, trust me."

"Don't worry, I'll take notes," Drew said taking out his pen and notebook. "But only because you're my teacher," he added.

"That's good to know," Misty mumbled and then turned her attention back on her love sick friend who was still chasing around girls. "So pretend May was here right now. How would you ask her out?" Drew shrugged and looked at Misty blankly.

"Oh, come on! Ok, pretend I'm May," Misty said enthusiastically and then pitched her voice so that she sounded like May. "Hey, Drew. I heard you wanted to ask me something? What is it?"

Drew diverted his eyes away from Misty's and titled his head slightly down.

"W-will you go out with me?" he said in a quiet voice.

"No!" Misty suddenly screamed, causing Drew to jump back.

"You're actually answering the question? !" he asked in a surprised voice.

"Yep. May would say 'no' too," she replied and then crossed her arms and legs and stuck her nose up in the air.

"How would you know?"

"Because the way you asked it was so _boring_!" Misty announced, looking straight ahead.

"It was boring?" Drew questioned.

"Of course it was! Those kinds of lines are so cliché; girls like it when they get asked out in a more exciting way. You know, like something they'll always remember. So if you want May to say yes, then you have to do something more impressive than just asking her out boringly like, 'Oh, I like you. Will you go out with me?'"

Drew grinned widely at Misty as she spoke those words. If she wanted to be impressed, then he was going to show her impressive. He suddenly felt his state of nervousness fade away and found himself in the mood to play around a bit. Drew got to his feet in an instant and stood in front of Misty, shoving an elegant red rose in front of her face. Misty flinched at the sudden action but then found herself staring down at the rose in admiration. She quickly looked up at Drew when she heard him speaking.

"There are many lovely roses in this world, such as the one I am holding before you, but the only rose I can see whose beauty overrides every other rose in existence is the one that sits in front of me. And I ask of you, will you be my rare rose, in which only I may keep forever?" Drew curved his lips up ever so slightly, putting on a cute appearance as to create a memorable image. Misty, who was immobilized by Drew's actions, slowly reached her hand toward the rose, but at the last second, Drew pulled it back and put it to his face.

"How was that?" he proudly asked.

Misty felt her body stiffen at his words and then recovered herself. "That was so fake!" she stated, turning her head to the side angrily.

"But it was good, wasn't it?"

"I-it was better than the first time," Misty stammered, carefully eyeing Drew and the rose. "You might want to start taking more notes now," she added to fill in the silence.

"I guess so," Drew replied and sat back down on the bench. He opened his notebook to a new page and started to write down more notes. Curious, Misty glanced over to see what Drew was writing, and then she spotted the rose placed on the other page of his notebook. She stared at it intently until Drew turned his body position so she couldn't see it anymore.

"Nosy much?" Drew said, covering his page in which he was writing in.

"No," Misty quickly responded. Her sudden answer confused Drew and as he looked down upon his writing again, he realized that it wasn't his notebook she was staring at, but his rose. With a smirk, he picked up the rose and held it out to her direction. Misty eyed the rose cautiously, not knowing whether or not to take it.

"Take it, since you seem to want it so much," Drew declared.

"Whoever said I wanted it? !" Misty yelled back.

"You keep looking at it."

"No I don't!" Misty hesitated, and then added in a more calm voice, "You carry roses with you?"

"Does it look like I do?" Drew teased, but that only aggravated Misty and she raised her voice again.

"Stop smart mouthing back at me! I was only asking because I wanted to know if you ever gave May a rose!"

Drew leaned back in his seat. "Of course I did. I even gave her more than one."

Misty sighed silently, glancing at the rose in Drew's hand. "I can't take it," she said, closing her eyes. "The roses are a precious gift in which you give to only May, so it would be wrong for me to take it from you."

The younger teenager looked at his teacher with curious eyes, but then understood her reasons and put the rose away in his backpack. He quickly jotted down some more notes before putting his pen and notebook away as well. When he was finally settled again, he remembered about Misty's friend and started to look for him. Unfortunately, her friend was nowhere in sight, and the two teenagers found themselves staring at an empty area. They found it extremely strange for the place to be so deserted all of a sudden, but tried not to let it bother them too much. Instead, they started to occupy themselves by examining their surroundings. After a long moment of silence, however, Misty finally spoke out in a quiet voice.

"Do you think it's true? What Skye said before?"

"What did Skye say?" Drew asked, glancing over at Misty.

"About… that overused scenario, where, in the end, the two friends end up falling for each other," the model answered softly. She kept her gaze on the ground as to avoid any form of eye contact with Drew.

"Do you really think we're going to end up falling for each other?" Drew said raising his eyebrow.

"No," Misty replied quickly, but in a more quiet tone than before.

"Then why did you ask?"

"I just wanted to know what your opinion about it was."

The arrogant teenager looked over at his teacher respectively, and for once, decided to answer her in a serious tone. "Honestly, May is the only girl who I'm focused on. She's just the only one on my mind right now, so the chances of you and me falling for each other are low. Plus, you have someone else you like too, so that makes the chances even lower. So I wouldn't worry about any of that; it's not going to happen."

The model took in a deep breath of air and slowly let it out. "You're right. Skye doesn't know what he's talking about," she stated, but a part of her felt the need to disbelieve her own statement. "I guess what I should really focus on now is continuing to teach you the meaning of love so you can finally express your feelings to May."

Drew nodded his head in approval and also as a sign of thanks. A small smile started to form on his face and the two looked at each other in a friendly manner. However, their friendly moment was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice.

"Misty…? Drew? !" The two teenagers immediately froze, and they heard footsteps coming closer to them. They stared at each other in astonishment, afraid to look behind them, for shock of who they would find. The voice who had called out to them had sounded way too familiar, and Drew and Misty both had a very good hunch of who it was. Actually, it was far more than a hunch, for they knew that there was only one person who had a voice like that, and who called Drew's name out in surprise and excitement every time she saw him: the only person who had ever truly caught Drew's attention, May.


	6. Synchronicity

**Author's Notes: **Well the next chapter is finally out. My apologies for not updating for so long. For those of you who want to check on my progress with stories (for the next update) I have a section for it on my profile. And I guess we'll just have to see how this story turns out. Enjoy the next chapter!~

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

_**Synchronicity**_

"Love is all about who lands the first punch!" ~ Misty Waterflower

* * *

><p>Both brightly colored heads turned toward the source of the voice; their eyes settled on a single figure that was happily skipping toward them.<p>

"May!" they shouted in shock but a lot louder than was expected. The two exchanged a worried glance, embarrassed by the fact that they had spoken –or more accurately, screamed- her name out in unison.

May immediately noticed their outburst reaction, and her cheerful skipping slowed until she stood in back of the bench staring curiously at the two people whom she would've never expected to be acquaintances.

"Is something the matter?" she questioned furrowing her eyebrows worriedly.

Misty relaxed her shoulders and answered May in the best natural voice she could. "We were just so surprised to see you, May."

"Yeah?" May smiled. "So was I. I would've never expected to meet up with you two here." As soon as she said that, her smile faded, and her eyes immediately diverted to Drew.

"Say, Drew…" she started. Drew's heart leapt with excitement and anxiety as she spoke his name, but he soon remembered that he needed to somehow explain the situation to May as soon as possible before it all became a huge misunderstanding. And the last thing Drew wanted was for a rumor to spread about him and Misty.

"What are you doing here in Pewter City? And with Misty too?" May finished.

Drew opened his mouth to speak, but before he could even begin to explain, a deep, loud voice cut him off, shouting a name that made Drew's eyes spring wide open with panic.

"May!"

The infatuated teenager turned to the sound, finding three running figures heading their way. Some of them seemed oddly familiar, and Drew had to squint to confirm the people. One of the figures had noticeable spiky black hair which almost looked as if it was out of control. He wore a hat which covered the top of his head and normal comfortable clothes. Then there was another boy with black hair but was shorter than the other guy. As the sunlight shone on him, Drew noticed a flash of light reflecting from his eyes, confirming that he wore glasses. And finally there was a girl as Drew could tell since she was wearing an extremely short skirt. Her dark blue hair stood out, swishing as she ran; it complimented her appearance nicely, making her pleasing to the eye.

"Ash! Max!" Misty suddenly shouted. "You're all here too? What are you guys doing here?"

May looked over to her group of friends and then replied, "It had all been so long, we wanted to meet up again. And since we met up together, we decided to go to Pewter to get Brock. We were going to come and get you too after Pewter." She exchanged glances with everyone and then gestured to a girl beside her. "Oh yeah, I don't think you've ever met Dawn."

"No, I haven't," Misty responded as she held out a hand. "It's so nice to meet you. I'm Misty!"

The girl named Dawn came out in front and smiled brightly at Drew and Misty. Her entire face gleamed with happiness and gave Misty a sense of reassurance.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe you guys are friends with the famous model, Misty Waterflower! This is so amazing! Hi!" she squealed and then shook Misty's hand. "I'm Dawn Berlitz. Nice to meet you too! I just love your magazines! You're just gorgeous! So beautiful!"

"We're talking about Misty, right?" Ash suddenly spoke out in a teasing manner.

"Of course we are!" Dawn shot back which caused everyone to let out a playful laugh.

"So what are you two doing here in Pewter?" Max questioned once the laughter ceased.

"Us?" Misty asked hesitantly as her eyes sneaked over to Drew's. She was hoping that they would somehow manage to avoid that question, but of course there was little chance of that happening. She had only wished that she had been better prepared to answer those questions.

"Oh, nothing," she replied in her best casual tone, "We were just passing through."

"Oh, so you two are travelling together?" Dawn asked, having the least bit of suspicion about their true actions. Drew eyed Misty inconspicuously, and Misty looked away, knowing that she had just hinted their secret of travelling together.

"No, we're travelling separately. We just happened to meet up here," Drew answered, trying to recover from Misty's slip up.

"So you two already know each other then?" Ash asked with a smile.

The two companions bit their lip, both mentally cursing the situation. Because of all the curious questions, they had suddenly been forced to reveal their secret of travelling together; and if that were to come out than so would Drew's love.

Drew and Misty looked at each other from the corner of their eyes, trying to figure out who should speak next since both of them had created the situation worse.

"Uhh…" Misty started to fill in the silence.

"Where are you travelling to anyways?" May piped in making Misty squeak out in surprise. Drew, however, took that opportunity to show off and prove to everyone that he could handle being under pressure.

"What's with all the stalker questions?" he stated proudly with a gracious flick of his hair. In an instant, May's face turned beat red and her eyes grew large as she pouted in front of Drew's face.

"They're not stalker questions! They're just normal questions!" she exclaimed in defiance.

"Right," Drew answered coolly placing a hand just underneath his long bangs. "I bet you'll end up stalking us too."

"You said 'us'," Max pointed out in confusion. "So you two _are_ travelling together?"

Drew's flowing confidence suddenly struck him cold, and he immediately froze like he had just been struck by jolt of lightning. Being sure to keep the situation in control, he slowly lowered his hand until it was down by his side again and tried his best to maintain a convinced look. However, nothing came into mind and the group was left again with the natural sound of silence.

"Speaking about Brock…" Misty said nervously taking on the tactic of changing the conversation even though she knew she had a low chance. But it was their only hope to keep their plans a secret.

Ash scrunched up his face at the unexpected comment. "Who's speaking about Brock?"

"No one," Misty answered. "But now that you mention him, we should probably go find him. I last saw him out here desperately picking up girls again and people were giving him these weird looks. I say we go and find him before he gets himself in trouble!"

"Oh that Brock. He hasn't changed a bit, has he?" Max smirked crossing his arms.

"Nope! So let's go!" The model raised a fist in the air with compelled excitement; but before she could take even a step in the other direction, she bumped into something that made her stagger backwards.

"Who—?" she started when she laid eyes on the person she had just run into. "Brock!"

"Was I any help?" Brock asked with uncertainty.

"Any help?" May repeated blankly. The older man flinched at the sight of the her.

"What is she—? !" he stated a bit too loud. "Uhh, I mean-"

Brock cleared his throat as if he was about to give a professional speech. Placing his hand on his side, he leaned back and spoke out, "After fifty girls, I have come to realize…" he paused to build up the suspense (or to think about what he should say next), "… that I will probably and most likely be single for the rest of my life," he ended in disappointment and lowered his head.

Surprisingly, Dawn stepped forward and patted Brock on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Brock. I'm sure there's someone out there who's compatible with you."

"There is no one!" Brock stated with a slow, deep emphasis on each word.

"You can't believe that," Dawn continued. "There are millions of amazing women in this world. One of them must like you."

"It's because I'm too forward, isn't it?" the man stated with a depressed look.

"That's not it. Some woman like that in a guy." Dawn turned to May. "Isn't that right, May?"

"Dawn's right. You can't be so down on yourself just because fifty girls- well…" May's voice faded off trying to find a better approach to confront her friend.

"Just don't give up!" Ash added. "I know there are times when it seems like everything's crashing down on you, but there's always a way. I know it! And when you come to find it, you'll end up winning in the end!"

"Are you sure you're not talking about Pokémon battles, Ash?" Max commented.

"Well, it works the same way for what we're talking about too, right?" Ash said with a chuckle.

"What thing? You mean love?" Max pushed forward.

Ash gave a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, that thing." He rubbed the back of neck and Drew and Misty could see his cheeks faintly turning pink. Drew smirked at his ridiculous reaction and then focused his attention on Brock again.

May, Dawn, Ash and Max had encircled the gloomy man, trying to comfort him. Only Misty and Drew were left out of that group. Slowly, Misty leaned in Drew's direction and quickly whispered, "This is our cue to get out of here."

"How do you know?" Drew replied back fiercely. The two looked back at Brock who was in the process of breaking down into a complete mess.

"No! I've decided! There is no one out there for me!" Brock declared with a bit too much drama in his voice. Then, Drew could tell for sure that his exaggeration with his words were certainly too dramatic to be real. But surprisingly, the four friends were buying it. Drew nodded to Misty and they silently ran off.

The two ran out of Pewter City and into the clearing of a forest, taking no chance to look back. Although it was a bit rude to just leave, they didn't want to make the situation any worse than it already was. When they figured they were far enough from the rest of the group, their pace gradually slowed. They were breathing heavily when they finally stopped and caught their breath.

"Do you think… they'll find us here?" Misty asked between breaths.

"They'd have to… have a tracker on us to do that," Drew replied and then threw his head up take in his surroundings.

"Well, coincidently, they found us in Pewter without a tracker," Misty noted. "I wouldn't be surprised if they just suddenly showed up here."

"That would be frightening."

"It would be."

Misty pulled herself up, trying to figure out what to do next. She thought everything would be fine since May lived in the Hoenn region: they would have no interruptions, especially not with May. But somehow May and everyone else just had to find them at the wrong moment, and so the options of what to do next were limited. Misty pondered the thought of teaching Drew now, or even just moving on to the next city, but in the back of her mind, May was there following them. Was it possible to have an efficient lesson with the thought of May appearing around?

And then, there was the possibility of having Drew confess to May. Misty's eyes widened as she thought through the details. It was possible, wasn't it? May was already here. And Drew couldn't possibly be that bad at confessions, could he? He had intrigued May back when they were conversing. But what if Drew suddenly lost his cool like he had when their friends were questioning them about travelling together? Would it matter? It was obvious that May liked him back anyways. Things couldn't possibly go wrong…

"Teacher!" Drew called out.

Startled by his sudden outburst, Misty swiftly turned to him. "What?"

Drew hesitated before stating, "You look like you have a mischievous plan in mind."

"For your information, I was coming up with a plan for what to do next!"

"Did you come up with one?"

"I did!" she said proudly and then leaned toward Drew, pointing at him accusingly. "You're going to confess to May," she said slyly.

Drew's eyes widened with worriment and he took a step back. "With a day's lesson that you gave me?" he said with concern. "I can't confess to her now."

"Why? What are you afraid of?"

"You promised me a journey, Misty. You promised _Skye_ a journey and that after a month I would have to prove to him how much I learned," Drew insisted.

"The plans could always be changed and we could end the journey early."

"I- no!" Drew shouted and walked off to the side. "Not yet. I can't confess to her yet. I'm not ready."

"What do you mean you're not ready? She likes you anyways so what's the big deal?" Misty yelled back.

Drew kept his back to his teacher, eyeing nothing in particular, but smiling to himself none the less. "Does she really?" he said in a low voice.

"What?" Misty said, not hearing what he said.

"Does she really like me?" Drew repeated in a more confident tone. Misty blinked taken off guard. It wasn't like Drew to act that way, and she realized how much Drew wanted that girl. And it was her job to convince him of that.

Her face softened, and she replied back kindly. "Yes, she does. It's so obvious, Drew. If anyone saw you two together they would be convinced that you two liked each other."

Drew's face remained blank, as if he was debating whether or not to take the risk. Misty was also lost in her thoughts. In truth, she didn't really want to end the journey early. It would have been enjoyable to continue the journey and to teach someone the meanings of love. And even though she was quite annoyed at times and they had only travelled together for a day, she truly did enjoy their time together. It was like they had somewhat become friends. But Misty knew the meaning of their journey was really for that one girl in the end, and that it was ridiculous to grow closer to him.

"I can't," a soft voice spoke, bringing Misty out of her thoughts. She glanced up to see Drew with an appearance she never saw him with. His stance, his facial expression, everything was off about him. He wasn't the Drew that everyone knew. He wasn't the Drew that she knew. And it was all because of May.

With a deep breath, Misty strode over to him. She gave him a kind smile and laid a hand on his shoulder. "I know this sounds cliché but… just be yourself. Go up to her and say it out proudly. You'll have your wish in the end," she said, her voice cracking at the end, but just barely so that only she could notice it. She didn't know if Drew heard it, but from his reaction, she assumed he didn't.

Drew let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm like a child again," he said to no one in particular. He was pertaining to the fact that he couldn't take risks and was holding himself back from the possibilities. Misty, however, couldn't exactly grip onto what he meant by that, but decided to give him the final push.

"Go," she declared sternly, but that didn't seem to have any effect on Drew. He remained still, rethinking the actions. With indecisiveness completely taking over him, Misty felt irked and raised her voice otherwise he would never budge from the spot.

"Man up and go confess to her already! You're wasting my time with your whining!"

Her sudden tone change flustered Drew as he stared at her in confusion. "Fine then," Drew replied, "But if she rejects me, I'm blaming it on you."

"I'd laugh."

"You're a terrible teacher."

Misty's body faintly twitched, but she tried not to show it. For some reason those word suddenly hurt her and she felt the need to beat him up, but as she watched him walk away, she couldn't find the strength in her to budge.

"Where am I meeting you afterwards?" Misty asked faintly.

"Does it matter? I'm going to be with May then, so you can just go home," Drew answered firmly.

All of a sudden, Misty stormed up to block Drew, preventing him from going any further and pulled out her cell phone from her pocket. "Give me your number so you can tell me how it went!"

Drew only smirked and walked around her. "Sorry, I don't give out my number to just anyone. But if you want, there's my fan number."

Misty didn't let him get away so easily. She once again blocked him and walked up to his face. "Number! Now!" she repeated but with an intimidating feature that left Drew no choice but to give his number to her. He sighed as he took her phone and added his number.

"Don't spam or blackmail me," he uttered as he walked back into the city.

As soon as he was out of sight, Misty fell to the ground and wrapped her arms around her knees. Drew was right. She had just ended their journey. She knew it would come to an end one of the days. So why not just make it happen earlier?

* * *

><p>Drew searched the city for May, starting at the place he and Misty had left them. As expected, the group wasn't there anymore, so he had to resort to actually look for her. After searching the center area, Drew thought about where the most likely place for May would be. He knew she loved noodles and any kind of food in particular, so the most obvious place would be at a restaurant. Then he shook his head. If she was that easy to find, anyone could find her at any certain time. But it was worth a shot, so he made his way to the Pokémon Center restaurant.<p>

As he walked through the automatic glass doors, he could feel every person in the room staring at him. He was, of course, the Drew Hayden everyone admired, but he wasn't in the mood to brag and show off. He had to find May and confess to her. But in a way, Drew hoped that he wouldn't find May too soon so he didn't have to go through the fear of confessing.

Drew turned the corner of the restaurant, and sitting all alone at the farthest table, was May. She sat with her back to Drew busily munching on a gigantic ice cream sundae in front of her. Drew had to smile as he saw her eating that dessert that seemed like too much for anyone to eat. Then he wondered where her friends were. Surely they didn't just leave her like that. Gathering up his courage, Drew proceeded to the table, making a famous Drew Hayden appearance.

"No friends?" he started off as he took a seat across from her.

May was just in the process of putting her spoonful of ice cream into her mouth when she suddenly froze and stared at Drew in shock, her mouth formed an "o" shape.

"Drew!" she screamed slamming the spoon down on the table. The ice cream splattered all around, but May didn't let that bother her. Drew's presence had obviously caught her attention more than the food in front of her.

"Glad to know you're excited to see me," Drew replied in his best expression while giving a flick of his hair. May stiffened at his remark and went at her ice cream in a grumpy mood.

"I wasn't excited," May grumbled as she scooped a mouthful of ice cream into her mouth. "Just a bit surprised."

"Just keep telling yourself that."

"What do you want, Drew?"

"Isn't that sundae a bit too much for you?" Drew asked not wanting to confront the situation right away. "It looks almost too much for a single person to consume. Oh wait, I forgot. You have the stomach of five men."

"If you came here to insult me then you have absolutely no life!" May shouted.

"And I suppose wasting one's time eating ice cream is considered a better life?" Drew countered. He didn't know where he was going where the conversation; only that he didn't want it to end. Of course his main tactic was to confess to the love of his life, but he just couldn't get the last push to make him spill the words out.

"It's a much better life than yours!" May yelled back and then shoved ice cream into her mouth at an incredible pace.

"Whoa, slow down there. You're going to get a brain freeze. And the last thing we want is for an airhead to get a brain freeze. I wonder which condition is worse."

"You are the most annoying, self conceited, arrogant person I've ever met!" May fiercely stood up slamming her spoon hard on the table and then ran out of the restaurant. Drew smirked before realizing that he was letting his dream get away. He scrambled up and clumsily followed May out the restaurant.

"May, wait! I was only kidding!" Drew yelled out defensively.

"You've been 'only kidding' since the day we met! If you have something real to say then say it now!"

"I have a confession!"

May stopped in her tracks, curiosity suddenly running through her mind. If Drew truly did have a confession, she would be overjoyed to know what it was. Being cautious, she turned around to face the arrogant friend.

"What?" she asked rudely, placing her hands on her hips.

Drew grew silent, wondering how he had ever come to this situation. He didn't mean to blurt that out, but it was the only way he knew he could grab May's attention. Now he was caught in the position where he had to confess; confess and tell the truth. But right after he had just set off her anger? Now wasn't the best time to tell her. But then, he remembered Misty's words. She had confirmed that May did like him. So even if she were mad, she would still accept his feelings… wouldn't she?

The teenager looked up and faced his dream girl in the eye. But too late realized that it only made him more nervous and his train of thoughts left his mind.

"Don't tell me you only said that to get my attention!" May shouted in annoyance.

Drew regained his coolness and took in a breath. "I could've shouted out anything and you would've stopped."

"So what's the confession?" May insisted. Drew knew he had to answer her somehow, since he had already made her wait. But how to say it? He hadn't even planned it out or anything due to the fact that Misty rushed him to get it over with.

He stared at May, her perfect complexion marveled his eyes and he was forced to remain his focus on the words that stumbled in his mouth. "I love you, May." Those were the four simple words that were trapped behind his mouth, but something kept that part from coming out. How could he say that to her when she looked so angry? Telling a lie would be better, but how would he face Misty later on? No, now was the time to tell her. If he didn't, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

May stared at Drew in a confused manner, questioning his sudden silence. He usually wasn't like that. "Drew?" she asked in a softer voice. Those words seemed to be a faint echo to him as he reached for the words to declare his feelings. But he couldn't! But he had to! But he—

"I love you, May!"

A dark tingling feeling went throughout Drew as he realized what he had just said. He thought about taking back those words, saying that he didn't really mean what he said. But he saw a faint smile on May's lips and remained quiet for her response.

The beautiful girl stood up straight and stared at Drew with what seemed to be a forced smile. Her fiery temper had died off and instead been replaced by a more serene one.

"When will you start being real to me?" she said weakly and walked off in the opposite direction.

Those words strung Drew and he felt like he had just fallen off a steep cliff and crashed unto a hard rock bottom. The wind that blew past him took his breath away and he found himself lost for words. He was motionless. He was emotionless. Just what had happened to him?

His vision felt fuzzy, like his whole world was suddenly covered in static. Up ahead, the girl he admired was treading off. Even though it was at a speed Drew could easily catch up to, his knees were weak, having no support to balance him up. He wanted so badly to reach out to her, to tell her that what he said was truly real! But would she even believe him?

With a weak smile, he pulled himself up and walked in the opposite direction with his hand in his pockets, as if nothing had happened. He couldn't bother to let such a rejection show on his face. What would others think of him? His mind floated with the repeating scene of his breakage replaying over and over again.

* * *

><p>"Where is that kid? I've texted him over twenty times and he still hasn't replied back!" Misty grumbled as she held her phone out in front of her, pacing back and forth through the forest clearing. She hadn't moved away from that area since Drew left, mainly because she had nowhere to go and hoped to meet up with Drew again afterwards.<p>

Then, it came to her. What if Drew wasn't replying back because he was happily spending his time with May? Misty brought down her phone and smiled lightly to herself. Of course: those two were meant for each other.

Amidst her thoughts, she suddenly felt a buzzing noise from her hands. She quickly flipped open her phone and read a text message from Drew.

_You were wrong._

"I was wrong?" Misty questioned as she stared at the text. She quickly texted him back, asking what she was wrong about.

After ten minutes passed and no reply was given, Misty became extremely irritated and gave out a loud scream. "What happened to that student of mine?" Misty wondered angrily. She pulled out her phone again and started up another text.

_Lsdfjkgjfkfsd WHERE ARE YOU? ! ? ! _

She pouted and sat down on the hard ground. Then it occurred to her that she should've gone back into the city to search for him. However, it wasn't two seconds later that she received another text message.

_Gfjsdjafdjsdf;gld? Did you understand that? _

Misty gave a little chuckle to herself as she replied back.

_Askdfs;mkj;gj… I think we're getting along._

She didn't expect to get another message from him, so when she did, she stared at it curiously.

_City entrance._

Misty smiled as she read the message and headed off in the direction of the city. She didn't have to run far, for when she approached the road leading into Pewter, she spotted Drew walking out of the city. There was something oddly distinctive about him though. The way his head hung low, his bangs hid his eyes, his feet shuffled as he walked out solemnly. Misty knew something was terribly wrong. She quickened her pace, stopping before him.

"Don't tell me she rejected you," she said in shock.

"Something like that," Drew replied quietly as he walked past her. Misty caught up with Drew again and walked alongside of him. She could tell from his expression that May had certainly rejected him and knew not to bring up the subject, but she needed to confront him somehow.

Finally, she asked, "Did you tease her?" That made Drew stop in his tracks and slightly lifted his head to face forward.

"Yeah," he answered and then continued down the path.

"And then she got mad and didn't believe your confession," Misty stated.

Drew made a sound of approval, hiding his disappointment, but Misty knew there was more to him than that. She blocked his path, forcing him to stop, but surprisingly, it didn't take as much effort as she has expected.

"I'm sorry, Drew. I know how much you want to cry-"

"Does it look like I want to cry?" Drew interrupted, facing Misty for the first time. His tone sounded like he was trying to convince himself that he wasn't so upset with the rejection, but his facial expression showed otherwise.

"Yes…" Misty answered hesitatingly. The two stared at each other for a long while until Drew finally turned away, not being able to take the eye contact anymore since it was stirring his emotions even more.

"Even though you're a guy, you're still human, Drew. You're not incapable of crying."

"I wish I was," Drew said, indirectly admitting his grief.

"Confessing to her when she was upset wasn't the best way to go. In fact, I bet you started teasing her just to stall the time so you didn't have to confess right away." Misty crossed her arms and looked off to the side. "I would've never expected this outcome to happen."

When Drew began to move again, Misty started after him. "Where are you going?" she inquired.

"Home," he replied. Misty observed his unnatural motion, knowing that it was partially her fault for forcing him to confess so suddenly. Maybe there was a way to make it up to him. He couldn't give up that easily. She knew that May really did like him. She just had to bring them together somehow.

"Let's continue our journey," Misty remarked, making Drew stop. He turned around, curious at the suggestion. "The approach you took today wasn't the best, so it seems like you need some lessons. I promised you a journey, didn't I? And this way you won't be so depressed." She slowly made her way toward her student and held out a hand. Drew stared between her face and her hand, thinking through the possibilities. Finally, he accepted Misty's request and they shook hands deliberately.

The two acquaintances started down the road at a steady pace, neither thrilled nor discouraged by the path that lay ahead. It had been a long day for the both of them and they were focused on making it to Pallet Town and continuing their journey to learn the meaning of love.

As the two walked on, Drew felt obliged to show his appreciation for Misty's actions- although he didn't want it to seem so exposed either.

"Thanks, Misty," Drew said a bit coldly, but Misty could tell there was some earnestness in his voice. A light smile crawled upon her face and then she realized that Drew had called her by her name, not by his usual "teacher".

Feeling accomplished with what little she did, she replied back, "Not a problem."

"Hey, I think that's Drew and Misty over there!" came a voice from afar. At the shout, the two turned around, knowing exactly whose voice that was: Ash. He and the rest of the group were close behind them, and Misty could see them suddenly running to catch up with them.

"Ash!" Misty whispered harshly as she looked down in disappointment.

"Nothing to do now," Drew stated as he watched the group run toward them.

"We lost you guys after Brock came," Ash said jubilantly, "Where are you going?"

"Ash, it's obvious they're heading to Pallet Town for personal reasons," Brock commented almost immediately to keep the topic secure.

"Well what a coincidence. We're headed that way too," Dawn exclaimed as she clapped her hands together.

"I thought you guys just came from Pallet Town?" Misty asked in surprise.

"We did, but we already grabbed Brock and you turned out to be here too, so we were just going to go back to my house to celebrate and hang out," Ash replied.

"But we couldn't find you so we decided to see if you were already on the road and it looks like we were right!" Dawn explained.

"Let's all travel together!" Max added in with excitement.

"Fine by me," Drew replied casually, but Misty could tell there was still a hint of grief in his voice. She saw as he subtly eyed May who was in the back of the group, oddly silent and avoiding eye contact with Drew. She definitely wasn't her normal self after their last encounter. And now that they were going to be travelling together, Misty had a feeling things would become extremely awkward.

The group of six headed down the road for Pallet Town. Little conversations were held here and there. There were comments of Pokémon battles, everyday life, and a bit of teasing going around, but nothing that concerned Drew and May personally.

Misty, who was in front of the group alongside Drew, looked behind her, seeing the smiling faces of Max, Ash and Dawn, while Brock chuckled nervously every so often wondering how Drew and Misty were going to have their journey if everyone else was there to listen in. Then there was May, who was still in the back of the group. She appeared to be in deep thought, and that troubled Misty. She only hoped that the following events weren't going to be a complete disaster.

"It's more than just coincidence," Misty suddenly whispered to Drew. He turned his head toward her, taken off guard by her statement. When she didn't elaborate any more, he whispered back, "I agree with you. Does it mean we're meant to be together?" He was referring to May, and Misty could easily interpret that.

She smiled and raised her head to look in front of her. "It means there's going to be a long and complicated journey to compel these emotions."


End file.
